Niagara Falls Cops Hunt Couple After Baby Locked in Hotel Safe

[Psihala]

Canadian police are on the hunt for a couple from Brooklyn whose infant somehow wound up locked in a hotel safe in Niagara Falls.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ni...l-safe-n412056

[Richard W]

The summary makes it sound as though the couple left the baby locked in the safe and disappeared. That's not what happened at all. From the actual story I don't really see how it's even police business, let alone something that they need to make the couple sound like fugitives over. "Bolted"? How about just "left to get on with their lives"?

[Alarm]

The article says the family "bolted" but were they actually told to stay, had they booked the room for longer or were they supposed to be leaving anyway?

And wouldn't the hotel have the room information, including the deposit information (usually a credit card)? That should make locating them easier.

[Sooeygun]

They have been found.

The New York parents of the baby girl found locked inside a Niagara Falls, Ont., hotel room on Tuesday have contacted police, who say the incident happened during an innocent game of hide and seek between siblings.

[Sue]

Originally Posted by Alarm

The article says the family "bolted" but were they actually told to stay, had they booked the room for longer or were they supposed to be leaving anyway?

And wouldn't the hotel have the room information, including the deposit information (usually a credit card)? That should make locating them easier.

The first news reports I read also included the licence plate number, I don't think finding them was ever going to be all that difficult unless they took major steps to avoid being found.

Originally Posted by Richard W

That's not what happened at all. From the actual story I don't really see how it's even police business, let alone something that they need to make the couple sound like fugitives over.

I can understand why the police wanted to interview them. As things turned out there is an innocent explanation but if there was something going on that might have meant they perhaps had intended to harm the child and then changed their minds it's not like they might not have tried something else later on. Seeking reassurance that this scenario wasn't what happened isn't unreasonable IMO.

[Richard W]

As long as everybody thinks it's funny, sure. I've just been made too cynical by the internet, sorry. When I see phrases like "on the hunt", "'alert and crying,' police said" and "The parents bolted," I think about the on-line lynch mob that will also form upon reading those words, and so I find it harder to take it as the funny and harmless anecdote that it no doubt was.

Of course the police have to make sure that everybody's safe once it's drawn to their attention for whatever reason, but it's still good that the situation was resolved before the press and assorted self-righteous busybodies could turn it into anything else.

[erwins]

Neither of my kids, and no other kids I've interacted with, had any kind of grasp of the game of hide and seek when they were under a year old. They barely can play it now at a little over two years old. So I'm pretty skeptical of their explanation. I suppose the game could have been "hide the baby, and then someone seeks for it," but that's a lot less of an innocent explanation. I still don't see any reason to think malice was involved, but I would have some questions about judgment and supervision that I would still want answered.

[Little Pink Pill]

As a mother who once found her preschooler locked in a dog kennel while his 6yo sister pranced around it gleefully, it doesn't seem too far fetched to me. I was only a few feet away when it happened, and I can easily imagine her doing the same thing to a 1 year old around that age. She wasn't malicious, just...creative.

[erwins]

No, another kid doing to her doesn't seem far fetched at all. An under 1-year-old playing hide and seek is what is far fetched to me. It makes me suspicious that they gave that as an explanation.

[Little Pink Pill]

If they're actually claiming the 1 year old was engaged in the game and trying to hide, then yes, I agree. But the first article mentioned a language barrier, so I kind of (perhaps wrongfully) assumed they meant it happened during a kids' game of hide and seek. A crawling baby could be "playing" with her siblings without actually understanding the game afoot.