NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A North Las Vegas mother says she’s living every parent’s nightmare after her 4-year-old son slipped out of his daycare unnoticed and made it all the way toward a busy intersection before anyone realized he was gone.
WATCH | Mother of 4-year-old speaks with Alyssa Bethencourt about her experience
It happened Tuesday morning at the Simmons North Vegas KinderCare on Ann Road and Simmons Street.
His mother, Ashlyn Eidy, says it wasn’t until nearly 20 minutes later that another KinderCare parent spotted the boy near the intersection and brought him back to safety.
"He could have been gone."
Fighting back tears, Eidy recalled the terrifying call she received.
“My child could have been splattered on the street. He could have been gone. I could have been planning his funeral,” she said. “He was not watched correctly and put in danger.”
Eidy says she trusted the daycare to keep her son safe.
“I thought he was in the right hands, to be protected the way that I would protect him.”
Now, she says, that trust is broken.
“Every second, it’s guilt that I can’t believe I put my child there thinking that it was a good school.”
KinderCare admits safety protocols weren’t followed
In a statement to Channel 13, KinderCare officials confirmed that the child did leave the facility, calling the incident “something that should never have happened.”
They said that the staff members involved are on leave, and that the entire team is being retrained on child supervision protocols. The company also said it is cooperating with North Las Vegas Police and state regulators to determine how the incident occurred.
“What kind of response would you have wanted?” senior reporter Alyssa Bethencourt asked. “There’s no response that’s appropriate. It shouldn’t have happened," Eidy said.
A mother’s plea for change
Eidy says she’s pulled her son from the center and doesn’t plan to enroll him anywhere else anytime soon.
Her biggest fear now is that another family could face the same horror.
“At the end of the day, what if this happens to another one? What are you going to do about it? You should have better protocols," Eidy said.