DAVENPORT, Iowa — Last Sunday started out as a normal Father's Day for Megan Irish, who went grocery shopping at the Walmart Supercenter off of West Kimberly with her one-year-old son.
Then her day turned into something else after she parked her car in the lot and began walking to the store.
"I went to put on my son's diaper bag and I happen to just kind of swing it around and turn, and I caught this little foot out of the corner of my eye and a car seat," said Irish.
At first, Irish said she believed the small foot belonged to a doll. But when that foot moved, she quickly called 911.
"I got off the phone with [911] and I'm like, 'I've got to get this baby out,' you know, I don't want to wait," Irish said. "I have to break the window. Well, I don't have anything to break the window with. So I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, do I go into Walmart?' You know, do I find something to break the window with? There [were] like a zillion things going through my head at that moment."
That's when Irish said she decided the best thing to do was wait next to the car and document what was happening. The high temperature for that day had been 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
"What if the driver comes out? I have to take this video because you know, it's me against a car, if a driver is going to leave they're going to leave, you know, I'm pregnant," Irish said. "I can't throw myself in front of the car."
Irish documented the baby locked in the backseat of the car, as well as the car model and license plate. The fire department arrived four minutes later and broke the window to retrieve the baby boy.
"They pull [the baby] out and they put him in my front seat where the air [was] blasting," Irish said. "Then they get him out and the fireman picks him up, puts him against his chest and I see the back of his head and he was just so sweaty."
Irish said police told her the caregiver for the child was his great-grandmother. Police later confirmed her identity as Vickie Keil. Keil told authorities she had forgotten the child in the backseat, according to a criminal complaint.
Keil is facing a felony charge of child endangerment for serious injury after the baby suffered from a high body temperature.
"I just feel like intentional, or not accidental or not, people need to be held accountable. They need to know that there are consequences for these accidents," said Irish.
The baby boy is now safe and back with his parents. But, the fire department told Irish, it would have been lethal if he had been in the car any longer.
Irish now urges her community to glance at any car seats they come across when walking by.
"It takes an extra few seconds out of your day to just take a peek, but you could unintentionally save a life," she said. "And that's, you know, it's what happened."
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