Local Mother Learns Of Hidden Danger In Back Seat When Son Nearly Chokes

MANHATTAN BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Michele Graeler had just treated her son to frozen yogurt and was headed home with 5-year-old Ashton when she heard him scream from the back seat, "Mommy, I need help!"

The preschooler had grabbed the middle seat belt next to his car seat and was tangled in it.

It was wrapped tightly around his neck.

Graeler pulled over, and when she tried to loosen the seat belt, it was locked.

"And I kept getting tighter 'cause I would kind of pull on it. He was crying. It was really scary. I realized I couldn't get him out of it," she said.

The panicked mom ran to a nearby house and asked for scissors. The only way to free her son was to cut him out of the seat belt.

"I had scissors in hand and I knew he was going to be OK. And I thought, I need to take a picture of this. This is unbelievable that this happened," she said.

But what happened to Ashton isn't all that uncommon.

It turns out every year, kids die or come close to strangling themselves with an unoccupied seat belt. A quick Google search turns up dozens of news articles across the country.

"Any seat belt that's within reach of a child can be a risk to them," said Kristen Sanders, who is a mom and child passenger safety technician.

She helps parents install their car seats and teaches them about how to keep their kids safe when they're passengers.

Since 1996, virtually all cars have seat belts that go into a locking mode when you pull the shoulder belt out to the very end.

Once engaged, the seat belt will only get shorter and shorter as you pull on it.

"So, if they're wrapping it around their neck and then it locks, it's stuck," she said.

Sanders says there is only one way to safeguard belts that are within reach of a child.

"Make sure that you are buckling it. Then, pull it out, and then let it go back in," she said. "It's locked and they can't reach it."

It's a simple fix that many parents like Graeler are not aware of.

"I am probably what you would call a neurotic mom. I tend to do a lot of research and I try to be prepared for everything and I had no idea," she said.

It's recommended that everyone carry a seat belt cutter in their car.

While Graeler was able to locate scissors to cut Ashton out, Sanders says most scissors won't be able to cut through the thick polyester material that seat belts are made of.

Graeler now has a seat belt cutter in each of her cars. As for Ashton, he escaped with only small bruises on his neck but the trauma of being slowly choked by a seat belt remains.

"He told me later that night, he walked in and said, 'Mommy, today was one of those days I don't ever want to have again,' " she said.

For more on car seat and seat belt safety, Kristen Sanders, CPST can be reached at MsKristenSanders@gmail.com.