A Florida mom arrived at her daughter’s day care, ready to pick to her up. Panic hit when she realized the doors were locked – and her 2-year-old was stuck inside, alone.
On Tuesday, Stephanie Martinez went to pick her daughter, Anastasia, up from a KinderCare Child Care Center in Plantation and it appeared closed with the lights off, NBC 6 reported.
She called her best friend, Samantha Scaramellino, to see if she picked Anastasia up, but she had not.
According to a Facebook post from Scaramellino, Martinez walked around the building and banged on the windows. A short time later, her daughter’s head appeared in a dark room.
“The window is way taller then she, somehow after hearing the banging she pushed a chair in the dark to the window to see,” Scaramellino wrote.
Martinez called 911 and the Plantation police and fire department arrived to rescue the 2-year-old.
“She’s super traumatized,” She told NBC 6. “It’s not fair.”
A parent that picked up their child 10 to 15 minutes before Martinez arrived said they saw multiple kids still at the day care and Anastasia running around yelling, according to Scaramellino’s Facebook post.
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KinderCare closes at 6 p.m., but often stays open for parents who regularly pick up their kids late. The assistant director of the day care and a teacher were the last ones to leave around 6:20 p.m., according to an incident report reviewed by NBC 6.
Martinez arrived 8 minutes later.
The circumstances surrounding Anastasia being left alone are unclear and the Broward Sheriff’s Office Child Protection Services and Plantation Police are investigating the incident.
“It’s the worst feeling ever. You feel helpless,” Martinez told the outlet. “You can’t do anything to console her. She was stressed out and definitely crying the whole time she was there by herself.”
Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: [email protected]
