A mother from New York City is praising the swift work of the New York Police Department officers who helped treat her daughter after a bizarre accident. Carolina Camargo had been giving her 2-year-old daughter Olivia a bath when the glass shower door fell and shattered. The pieces cut the toddler, one larger shard even slicing her down the back, which is when the mom knew she needed help and immediately called 911 for help.
The mom had been giving her daughter a bath Tuesday night when a strange accident seriously injured her little girl.
As Camargo explained to CBS New York, the glass shower door in her bathroom fell and hit the wall while she was bathing her daughter around 9:30 p.m.
"We just moved to New York and here the bathtub has two glass doors," the mom tells CafeMom. "The glass door had plastic on the end to protect the glass from hitting the wall. But the (plastic) wasn’t really well fixed. … It kept falling all the time."
On Tuesday the door finally shattered, falling into several large pieces that sliced her toddler, including one large piece of glass that cut the girl's back.
Frightened, the mom immediately called 911 for help and was relieved when police officers arrived promptly and stepped in.
The mom later explained to CBS New York that she was scared before police arrived because of the amount of blood and glass everywere. “When the glass broke, it broke into really small pieces. It was like bleeding a lot and I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’” she said.
"I removed Olivia as fast as I could and she seemed to be fine," she tells CafeMom. "But then I saw a lot of blood coming from her back. She had a cut (around 10 cm I don’t know exactly the size) in her left side and a lot of minor injuries. So I called 911." The mom added that police arrived within five minutes of her call.
"They were really helpful because I was afraid and worried," the mom adds. "Sergeant Morris, Police Officers Casillo, McCormick and Albano helped a lot. They tried to calm Olivia, saying she was brave and strong."
As Police Chief Rodney Harrison explained on Twitter, "Sergeant Morris and Police Officers Casillo, McCormick and Albano […] sprung into action and applied Quik Clot, saving Olivia’s life!"
The "quick clot," CBS New York noted, is military-grade treatment for serious wounds.
Olivia was taken to the hospital, where she was given stitches.
Her mom, who had been cut on her arm and legs when the glass door shattered, also received stitches at the hospital.
Camargo also tells CafeMom that she hopes parents can learn an important lesson from her story. "My advice for parents is sometimes we even didn’t notice how small things in our daily life could be dangerous," she says.
The mom adds that she is going to install a new glass door coated with a protective film and will make sure that the plastic padding is firmly attached.
"Luckily we have another bathroom. It is smaller but doesn’t have glass doors so I’m giving her baths there from now on," she continues.
