Hero Grandma Couldn't Ignore Screams Of Toddler In Hot Car
(CROWLEY (CBS 11 NEWS) - Patricia Sanders can't get the cries out of her head. She can't even stop thinking about a 2-year-old girl left alone in a hot car on Labor Day.
"I got out of my car and I looked over and I said, 'oh my God that is a kid,'" Sanders remembered vividly. "I heard her crying."
Sanders, a 53-year-old grandmother herself, says she then saw the toddler reaching for her. "I opened the door and said, 'pray this door is open' and I opened the door." Once she was able to get to the little girl Sanders said, "She just grabbed onto me and I said 'what is your name' and she said 'two' and I said who are you with she said 'two.'" She just wouldn't let me go and I said 'oh my gosh she is by herself.'"
Sander remembers quickly unbuckling the 2-year-old girl from her car seat.
Crowley police say Deborah Reece, the toddler's grandmother, left the child in the hot car for nearly an hour, while shopping at Wal-Mart. The 60-year-old woman was arrested when she came out of the store.
The temperature outside that day was close to 100 degrees.
Sanders remembered the little girl seemed to be in distress. "Her hair was drenched. It was wet... I mean she was drenched with sweat."
After rescuing the child Sanders said she waited for several minutes hoping someone would show up and when no one did she spotted another mother who helped her track down police.
"The first thing that crossed my mind was 'Lord what if it was one of my grandkids,' you know. I just cannot imagine one of my grandkids being left alone, I cannot. That's the first thing cross my mind 'oh my God what if that was one of my kids?'"
Reece told police her granddaughter fell asleep in the car and she just forgot about her.
Sanders is a grandmother to seven children and insists her faith put her in the right place at that exact right time. "I knew it was God. I knew it had to been God. I'm very happy that I saved that baby. I'm very happy that I got that baby out of the car, because anybody could make a mistake."
Sanders will be recognized by the Crowley Police Department on Thursday, September 18. She will be recognized at the 7:00 pm ceremony for rescuing and saving the toddler's life.
Investigators say if the little girl had been in the car much longer the incident would have ended tragically.
CBS 11 News tried to reach Deborah Reece, but calls were not returned.
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