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Dean Martin

September 18th

On September 18th @ 5:20 pm I decided to make a stop after leaving work with my boys. Before I got out of the car to go into the store, I cracked the windows. turned the car off and told my 6 and 3 yr old sons I would be in and out. 

Minutes later my car caught a fire. I was inside the store for less than 5 mins and by minute 3 my car had been fully engulfed in flames. I was in a panic and there weren’t many people around either. The security guard of the building and 2 other strangers saved my boy’s lives for me! I was in shock and completely helpless as to what was happening. They handed me my youngest son, but I did not see my oldest son get out of the truck. It literally exploded. 

My beautiful boy managed to help his little brother keep away from flames by moving him into the rear of the vehicle. He suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his face, arms and scattered areas. spent 18 days in the hospital after this incident. My youngest came out with a couple minor burns and 1 second degree burn on his ear. 

I wanted to share this story with you all to bring awareness to the dangers of kids being left alone in cars. Three minutes does not seem like a long time at all, but a lot can happen in 3 minutes. 

As of now, we are not sure what caused my SUV to catch fire. The keys were in my pocket inside the store. The vehicle was completely off! 

I am a single mother of 3 children and all of us parents know it can be quicker and easier to run into the store rather than pack and unpack children in and out the car. BUT, the time spent unloading children is time spent knowing your babies are safe, alive and well. It is worth every second!

Kids need to be supervised especially in cars because they can malfunction at any time and so many things can go wrong in just a minute. I’ve learned a great deal about leaving children unsupervised in vehicles and after going through all of this I want to make sure no other parent makes that same mistake. 

Please take your kids out of cars when you are not in there with them. It’s so important and don’t think for one second it couldn’t happen to you! You just never know and I rather everyone be safe than sorry.

Written by Dean’s mother, Iesha Newson

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