14-month-old baby spends 4 hours locked inside bank vault

A 14-month-old girl who somehow toddled away from her mom and grandma managed to get trapped inside a time-locked bank vault in Georgia. Cops pumped fresh air through vents to the crying baby until a locksmith freed her, four hours later.

• [Ronamo]

  Seems the Wells Fargo branches in Conyers just can’t win. I wonder if that was the same one that was robbed a few months back.

  http://conyers.11alive.com/content/25k-reward-offered-metro-area-bank-robberies

• [rebdav]

  It just shows how far we have fallen that grandmothers are now using toddlers in a cynical attempt at a bank heist, fortunately our brave police were able to stop the criminals in their tracks.

• [chgoliz]

  Having worked in a few banks, what stood out for me is the idea that an employee locked the vault for the night without checking inside first. It’s not like they’re rabbit warrens: by definition, a bank vault needs to be easy to inspect quickly (for obvious reasons). There are almost always video cameras in them too, so any movement can be seen from the employee’s desk without even getting up to go inside. Closing the vault without inspecting it first means the employee wasn’t doing his/her job correctly.

  Love the photo.

• [RioMcT]

  While I get that $129 dollars is a lot to spend to licence a 1mb file, even if you’ve been waiting your whole life to do so, why not at least take the time to credit the photographer, Matt Kemp, whose photo you love?

  http://www.rubberball.com/search_detail.php?id=b14612b

  • [RioMcT]

    Mike Kemp not Matt Kemp,

    http://www.mikekempimages.com/

    • [Xeni Jardin]

      because the photog name wasn’t provided at the source I used. Ah, I’ll remove the pic, given the licensing terms.

• [Jack]

  14-month-old baby spends 4 hours locked inside bank vault and no hi-jinx ensued? Hollywood lies!

• [bardfinn]

  Oh, Henry!

  (vanwall et al beat me to it)

• [Anonymous]

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pURFU3pL93o

• [Vanwall]

  Jimmy Valentine in “A Retrieved Reformation”

  http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/106/

  It mirrors this to a rather interesting degree.

• [Webbie]

  The locksmith got into the timelocked vault after 4 hours…? Could I get his number…?

  • [chgoliz]

    Hah! Excellent point.

• [Anonymous]

  I’m not buying the spin the bank is putting on this. It’s obvious the baby was collateral for a real estate loan.

• [Michael Smith]

  He added that the locksmith used a large drill to breach the vault about four hours after it had been closed.

  Sounds like an expensive afternoon. You’d think there would be a way to bypass the time lock. For example you enter a code outside the vault, then an alarm sounds at the police station, then after a one hour delay the vault opens.

  • [Brother Phil]

    The point of the time lock is that it can’t be overridden – be pretty pointless otherwise.

    If it can’t be overridden, you can’t force bank staff to open the vault by, say, threatening to kill hostages. If they could be forced to override the time lock, then having it would have no benefit.

    • [Michael Smith]

      Thats why I suggested the automatic alarm to the police and the one hour delay. It gives the police time to respond in the case of a theft. Asking the police to help open the vault will still be cheaper than wrecking it.

    • [SRChiP]

      Why not make a time lock so that only the owner of the bank knows to override it?

      • [chgoliz]

        Referencing again my time spent working for banks: at one regional bank (multiple branches in several states), the president and the chairman of the board each carried with them at all times certified letters stating that their families, the bank, and their lawyers were instructed to not pay any ransom for any reason. It was a point of pride to them – made them feel important – but it was clear that they did understand the gravity of what they were agreeing to.

      • [Raj77]

        a) because almost no banks have a single owner

        b) because whoever has that power becomes vulnerable to a ‘tiger kidnapping’ wherein robbers hold the person’s family hostage at their home.

• [wygit]

  I can’t believe (ok, yes I can) how quickly the comment thread on the story devolved into a flame war, attacking liberals, bringing in Obama, and in general turning into a blame-fest.

• [Vanwall]

  Where was Jimmy Valentine when you need him?

  • [Iscah]

    Just what I thought! In fact, I was moved to reread the story before I even made it to the comments on this thread.

• [Anonymous]

  Well, then all you have to do is kidnap the owner of the bank, and threaten/torture/do-bad-stuff-to them to get it open…