Blossum Kirby, 36, was reportedly riding a bike haphazardly down an Indianapolis street on June 27, 2022, when passersby noticed something unusual. Witnesses were concerned about the woman, who they thought was carrying toys in a milk crate on the bike. But shockingly, it was not toys but real-life newborn babies.
Brian Henderson told Fox 59 that he saw an arm move in the milk crate last summer and realized that the situation was dire. According to a police report, Kirby was riding with her 2-month-old twins in the milk crate because she had no car or other way to transport them. Video went viral on social media, and Kirby was arrested. She faced a judge this week and will now spend time in jail.
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It was apparently hot the day Kirby was found riding the bike with her babies.
The day of the incident was in the mid-80s, according to Fox 59 meteorologists. The infants — a boy and a girl — were reportedly wearing only diapers inside the milk crate tied onto the bike with a bungee cord.
Employees at Just Pizza at 3852 E. 10th St. saw Kirby riding the bike recklessly. Witness Suezanne Lynch told Fox 59 that Kirby nearly hit a curb and tipped over the bike at one point.
The bike incident was caught on video.
Jeremiah Walton shared images and video of witnesses approaching Kirby on the street and confronting her about the dangerous situation. The infants were screaming as Henderson and his coworkers approached Kirby.
Henderson is heard in the video saying, “You can’t have those babies in there like that, ma’am.”
Kirby briefly argues that she was about to put her babies in a Moby wrap as witnesses took the infants into the pizza shop and called the police.
Witnesses were extremely concerned about the babies as they waited for police and emergency medical personnel.
When officers arrived, Lynch reportedly told them that one of the infants had appeared lethargic, so they took both inside to get help, according to a police report obtained by Fox 59. She claimed Kirby was incoherent while waiting for the authorities to arrive and kept nodding off. When questioned about why the babies were in the milk crate, Kirby allegedly said that is how she always travels with them.
“She had told me that prior to me stopping her, she had one baby in the front and one baby in the back,” Lynch said. “She couldn’t control the bike that well, so she put both babies in the one milk crate in the front. [She said] that was her way of transporting the babies anytime she left.”
Police arrived to talk to Kirby.
The police report noted Kirby told officers she was en route from her mother’s house to visit a friend, and police determined the ride would have been about 30 minutes.
According to court documents, she told police she always rode the bike with her twins in the crates, and she didn’t see anything wrong with it. When probed why she didn’t call the twins’ father for a ride, Kirby apparently told police she didn’t know who he was, Fox 59 reported.
The infants were treated by medics and taken to a hospital.
In addition to being lethargic, the babies were injured. Fox 59 described the infant girl as reportedly being sunburned with abrasions to her hand and scratches on her body. The boy reportedly also was sunburned and scratched and had an extreme rash and a wound in the groin area.
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A court sentenced Kirby to jail.
Fox 8 reported Wednesday that a court found Kirby guilty of two charges of neglect of a dependent and sentenced her to two years in jail. One year in jail was suspended for each count. She will spend just a year in jail.
The Department of Child Services was contacted in June 2022, but confidentiality laws prohibited them from commenting about the twins, per Fox 59. It is unclear who currently has custody of the babies.
