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Toddler Found In Cold Van

Child Rescued After Three Hours

OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha toddler was apparently left in a cold van for nearly three hours Wednesday.

Child Found Safely In Cold Van

A driver from a day-care center usually takes Maya, 2, home around 6 p.m. However, the driver did not show up Wednesday evening.

About three hours later, the child's grandfather found her locked in the day-care center's van.

"I'd like to have some answers. I believe that they should have checked. The last child that was on that van. They should go over and go over it," grandfather John Williams said.

Omaha police broke the windows of the van to get the child out. "She was crying. I was crying. They were trying to keep me from crying so she could be strong, but I couldn't help it," mother Ida Berdine Williams said.

The child was taken to an Omaha hospital where she was checked and released.

Police said the day-care center has been cooperating with their investigation. "We are looking for the driver of the van. He's a 20-year-old male. He's been working there for about a year and a half. We want to find out exactly what happened," officer Meg Fricke said.

The driver told the day care owner that the child had only been in the van for 30 minutes. But Maya's mother does not believe that. "She was already crying, shaking, and coughing. It had to be longer than thirty minutes," Williams said.

KETV NewsWatch 7 was unable to reach the day care owner for a comment. Another employee at the center said the incident was an accident and the driver had been fired.

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