HANSON, MASS. (WHDH) - Authorities have identified the child who they say accidentally fell out of a moving vehicle and onto a busy roadway in Hanson on Monday morning.
Hanson police put out a call to the public as they worked to track down the child who was caught on surveillance video tumbling into the middle of Liberty Street after opening the rear driver’s side door of a vehicle.
The child was unharmed and police say after speaking with the driver, who is the child’s caregiver, the incident was determined to be an accident.
The caregiver reportedly told police that the child had unbuckled themselves from their car seat and then opened the door before the auto-lock feature turned on in the vehicle.
The driver will not face any charges or citations, police said.
The Department of Children and Families was notified.
Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch shared the following safety tips on driving with young children:
- Teach children the proper times in which they can open a car door. Failure to have child locks on and children playing with the door may result in children opening the door at the wrong time and possibly falling out of a moving vehicle.
- Teach children that car doors are not toys and shouldn’t be played with. Children may sustain injuries while fooling around with the door, including injuries to fingers and hands.
- Child locks should remain on rear doors at all times to ensure your child’s safety. Children should also be taught a safe procedure for entering and exiting the car.
- Always make sure your car seat is installed correctly. For a seat belt to fit properly the lap belt must lie snugly across the upper thighs, not the stomach. The shoulder belt should lie snug across the shoulder and chest and not cross the neck or face. The proper placement of a seat belt restrains the child safely in a crash.
- Infants under the age of one should always ride in a rear-facing car seat. A rear-facing car seat has a harness and in a crash, it cradles and moves with your child to reduce the stress to the child’s fragile neck and spinal cord.
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