Ollie Hebb, 1, Drowns in Washing Machine
A one-year-old, Ollie Hebb, has drowned in his family's washing machine after attempting to help his mother do the laundry. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has said that these types of cases are very rare with only two young children dying in washing machines between 2005 and 2009.
Ollie loved helping his mother, Tiffany Hebb, do laundry, she told KSL-TV. He climbed atop the top-loading machine, which was normal for him to do. Tiffany went in another room to read, and when she noticed Ollie was missing, she searched the entire house and was horrified when she checked the machine.
"I put my hands in the washer and felt his little body. The worst day of my life," Tiffany told the Deseret News. "I couldn't get him out of the washer; he was stuck, so I pulled his head above the water. He had no heartbeat, no pulse. He wasn't breathing," she explained.
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A neighbor helped Tiffany maneuver Ollie's body out of the machine, and he was rushed to the hospital, where doctors were able to restart his heart. He was placed on life support, but Tiffany and husband Chris decided to take him off the machines.
"We just held him, cuddling him for his last moments of life. Six hours later he took his last breath and passed away," Tiffany said. The family then decided to donate Ollie's organs to those in need.
Oregon police spokesman Michael Rouches has stated that there will not be any charges brought against Tiffany Heb. "Detectives don't believe that this was an intentional crime or that anyone stuck the baby in the washer," he told the Associated Press. "We will have the DA's office look into it, just to make sure there wasn't a degree of negligence."
However, Rouches explains, negligence is highly unlikely. "She was 30 feet away in the living room, reading a magazine. It wasn't like the mother had this kid unattended at the time," he stated.
Accidental drowning in a washing machine is incredibly rare, says the Consumer Products Safety Commission. In a 2011 report, only two children died in the machines between 2005 and 2009. That fact haunts Ollie's father, Chris.
"Every night when I go to sleep, I start feeling sick," he told the Deseret News.
"Every time I wake up, I think this is a nightmare and then realize it's real. You hear a baby crying in the night from a neighbor's house. You wake up, hoping it's your little boy, and then realize he's not there," Chris stated.
