Missouri couple rescues baby from a hot car in a Pea Ridge Walmart

TIMES photograph by Annette Beard
TIMES photograph by Annette Beard

Thanks to quick and decisive action by a husband and wife shopping at the Pea Ridge Walmart Neighborhood Market, a four-month-old boy is alive after spending nearly an hour in a hot vehicle about 2:30 Sunday, Aug. 11.

He is in stable condition in Arkansas Children's Hospital, Northwest Arkansas, according to Pea Ridge Police.

"If they had not gotten the baby out, this would be an entirely different story," Pea Ridge Police Chief Lynn Hahn said. "Another 10 minutes and the outcome would have been different."

Hahn said the Holts' immediate action saved the child's life. He said the mother and aunt forgot the child and had apparently been in the store for 45 minutes.

The infant's mother, Karlee Spear, 21, Seligman, Mo., and aunt, Ashlee Danley, 26, Seligman, Mo., were arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a minor.

"My husband broke out the window and I pulled the baby boy out," Michelle Holt said, adding that she didn't know who called 911 but several people stood nearby praying for the baby.

Michelle said she, her husband and three children, all from Washburn, Mo., were parked further down in the parking lot from the black Nissan Xterra with Missouri tags. She said they were unloading groceries when they noticed people standing around the black Xterra, with some taking photographs of the license plate. Michelle looked through the tinted windows and saw the baby in the canopied car seat.

She screamed for her husband, Nathaniel Holt, to bring her something to break a window. She said someone standing nearby advised against it for fear the the glass shattering would hurt the child. After throwing a brick through the rear glass, Nathaniel crawled into the vehicle, unlocked the vehicle and got the baby to Michelle.

He was beneath a blanket and in a car seat in the center of the unattended vehicle. She said the baby was red and wet and she immediately removed his clothing.

"I took that (the onsie) off him because he had glass on him," Michelle said. "I got everything off him."

Holt took the baby inside the store and others helped get water to cool him. Pea Ridge emergency medical personnel arrived and took him.

"He wasn't crying. He didn't cry the entire time," Michelle said, adding that she just kept telling him he was strong and to stay awake.

The people who saw him are the real heroes, Michelle said.

General News on 08/14/2019