# Mother puts 2 year old in washing machine. WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 25, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401 "2003-05-25T15:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/61 "2003-05-27T16:30:24Z")
**World Eater** I am talking about a method to disengage the machinery, you know, to turn it off, or if you’d prefer, to pull the fucking plug. That is all I’ve ever talked about. From > [@](#): > > I suppose it could be argued that there is a reasonable expectation that such equpment be fitted with an emergency stop. to > [@](#): > > ALL machinery for public/private use should have appropriate failsafes and cut-outs to > [@](#): > > But the capacity to turn something off is not some ooh-think-of-expense, the-worlds-gone-mad, nanny-state-inspired rocket science, it’s just common sense. I’m prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt and not just assume you haven’t read a single fucking word I’ve written. ---
**Author:** ![Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clint_in_Wichita)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/62 "2003-05-27T16:48:58Z")
Safety devices on washing machines? Who are we to dick around with natural selection? The parent who’s dumb enough to put their child into a washing machine causes their family tree to be hacked off at ground level. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/63 "2003-05-27T17:14:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Clint in Wichita \* > \*\*Safety devices on washing machines? > > Who are we to dick around with natural selection? > > The parent who’s dumb enough to put their child into a washing machine causes their family tree to be hacked off at ground level. \*\* I would agree with you if it was the parent in the machine. **Unwashed** , I understand what you are saying, and I agree, dangerous machines should have failsafes. The point is I’m saying is that defining if a machine is dangerous should be based on some type of statistics and grounded in common sense. I’ve tried to google for accidental deaths and freak accidents involving washing machine but came up with squat. I will admit that I would be more then surprised if they were responsible for more then 20 deaths a year. Probably the same amount of people that tripped on a curb and died. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/64 "2003-05-27T18:16:44Z")
**The Great Unwashed** Did you not read my previous post, in it I mention why it is extremely undesireable for a washing machine have a means of turning off and opening the door mid-cycle. As for fire cut off, there are means within the machine to deal with that, the motor is the most likely thing to catch fire, it is protected by temparature and current overload trips. As for the machine becoming disengaged from its base and going awol, there are drum inbalance sensors that will cut the machine out under those conditions. It is a really, really bad idea to be able to open the door at any time when the wash cycle is underway, the drum absolutely must be completely stopped before the door can be opened, you need power on the machine to allow the unlatching system to operate. Cutting the power would halt the machine mid cycle, you would not be able to open the door.If by some chance the door was opened by an engineer, and then power were returned to the machine, it would resume its cycle withpout warning, this would be extremely dangerous. I cannot emphasise enough, the amount of kinetic energy involved in a laundromat washing machine when the loaded drum is at even its lowest spin setting is well enough to tear your arm right out, without slowing it noticeably. You have to consider that there is not just the weight of wet washing but also there is a motor driving it, with a rotor of significant weight and momentum. Having seen what happened to a simple home spinner when the drum came apart, the amount of energy released is surprising. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/65 "2003-05-27T18:35:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > \*\*No, you’re getting your tenses mixed up, I’m talking about what _should_ have been, some design decision was taken to not provide a mechanism to disable the machine. Such a mechanism should have been fitted in the first instance (and possibly was, then retro-removed (at what cost?)), not only to guard against the abjectly stupid but for more mundane scenarios, say a machine catching fire, or a machine becoming unanchored and careening around the laundromat during its spin-cycle. > > I repeat, _an idiot might suggest that potentially dangerous machinery does not require a method to disengage it, any takers?_ \*\* Here’s some free advice I learned from these boards. If you have a perfectly reasonable idea, don’t share it. You’d be amaized at the amount of shit I got from EVERYONE on this board when I suggested that if you don’t want to run the risk of getting publicly humiliated by an asshat of an airport security munchkin don’t pack your sex toys in your carry on. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/66 "2003-05-28T10:23:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by casdave \* > \*\ ***The Great Unwashed** > > Did you not read my previous post, in it I mention why it is extremely undesireable for a washing machine have a means of turning off and opening the door mid-cycle. > > As for fire cut off, there are means within the machine to deal with that, the motor is the most likely thing to catch fire, it is protected by temparature and current overload trips. > > As for the machine becoming disengaged from its base and going awol, there are drum inbalance sensors that will cut the machine out under those conditions. > > It is a really, really bad idea to be able to open the door at any time when the wash cycle is underway, the drum absolutely must be completely stopped before the door can be opened, you need power on the machine to allow the unlatching system to operate. > > Cutting the power would halt the machine mid cycle, you would not be able to open the door.If by some chance the door was opened by an engineer, and then power were returned to the machine, it would resume its cycle withpout warning, this would be extremely dangerous. > > I cannot emphasise enough, the amount of kinetic energy involved in a laundromat washing machine when the loaded drum is at even its lowest spin setting is well enough to tear your arm right out, without slowing it noticeably. > You have to consider that there is not just the weight of wet washing but also there is a motor driving it, with a rotor of significant weight and momentum. > > Having seen what happened to a simple home spinner when the drum came apart, the amount of energy released is surprising. \*\* I have never fucking advocated that the fucking users of a fucking laundromat should be fucking able to open the fucking door mid-fucking-cycle. Other strawmen in your post have been ignored. Thank you for posting. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/67 "2003-05-28T14:10:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > \*\*I have never fucking advocated that the fucking users of a fucking laundromat should be fucking able to open the fucking door mid-fucking-cycle. > > Other strawmen in your post have been ignored. > > Thank you for posting. \*\* What good is being able to stop the thing mid cycle as a failsafe if you can’t have almost instant access to whatever is inside? You know, to put out fires or to save lil Jimmy and such. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/68 "2003-05-28T14:25:36Z")
Cutting of the power stops the machine doing whatever it was doing, be it waltzing around the floor, bursting into flames (might be too late, but I’d recommend it) or bashing little Jimmy to smithereens. Because the girl of the OP nearly drowned, I assume that the thing had (at least partially) filled with water by the time the machine was disabled, here an off-switch would have stopped it. You know those emergency stop buttons on Elevators/Escalators(or whatever you call them)/Revolving Doors etc? You do have _them_, right? Actually, do you have off-switches at all, you guys seem complete out of your depth with the whole concept? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/69 "2003-05-28T15:13:12Z")
Actually I’ve been thinking a lot about this thread recently and I think I can explain why I am so tenacious on this point – I myself suffered a childhood trauma at the “hands” of a piece of machinery with no-off button. Once upon a time, at around age 9 or 10, some friends and I had the weekly responsibility to set up the gym’ equipment in the school hall. This was something of a privilege, we got to play on all that stuff and try to kill ourselves unsupervised. There were some fire extinguishers in the hall – the type with buttons on the top. BIG buttons. BIG, RED buttons. BIG, RED buttons, saying “ **PUSH** ”. To this day I am amazed by three things:[list=1] [li]That type of fire-extinguisher doesn’t turn itself off when you _lift_ the button[/li][li]They hold more liquid than their external dimensions could possibly allow – I don’t know how they do it but I swear you could fill a small swimming pool[/li][li]Headmasters don’t have a sense of humour[/list=1][/li]Correspondence on this matter shall not be entered into. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/70 "2003-05-28T18:07:18Z")
You are correct in your statement that dangerous machines should have safeguards, I agree with you. In regards _specifically_ to a washing machine, I don’t put it under the catagory of dangerous machines. I think we are arguing apples and oranges here. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/71 "2003-05-28T19:51:24Z")
Oddly enough, the very day this thread was started I was in a laundromat. I noticed that each machine has, in addition to other warnings, a sign that reads something like, “Under no circumstances should persons ever be placed in the Wash-o-matic 2000” What on earth, I asked myself, made it necessary to add _that_?!?! Now I know. (Not meaning to imply that the signs were brand new. I had just never noticed them before) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/72 "2003-05-28T22:14:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*You are correct in your statement that dangerous machines should have safeguards, I agree with you. In regards _specifically_ to a washing machine, I don’t put it under the catagory of dangerous machines. I think we are arguing apples and oranges here. \*\* Maybe. Do you remember way back when I first posted to this thread in reply to your question “when does she get to sue…?” I laughed – I thought it was a good joke (still is). But then I thought that if I were her lawyer then I’d argue “reasonable expectation…”, but fuck! what do I know, I’m not a lawyer (but I have seen one on TV, etc.) and even if I were I wouldn’t take on the case of such an idiot (her daughter’s case? maybe). Yet, I still think that having an off-switch on just about everything that has an on-switch is a good idea\* Anyway, let’s not pad the world, let the fuckers take their eyes out on all those sharp corners, but can we have the switches, pretty please? \*note to self: start MPSIMS thread, _things that don’t fit this rule_ ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/73 "2003-05-28T23:55:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > \*\*[li]They [fire extinguishers] hold more liquid than their external dimensions could possibly allow – I don’t know how they do it but I swear you could fill a small swimming pool[/li] > Correspondence on this matter shall not be entered into. \*\* Oh, phooey on that. If it was a CO[sup]2[/sup] extinguisher, carbon dioxide was added to the liquid as it went through the nozzle, thereby greatly increasing its volume. ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/74 "2003-05-29T04:46:18Z")
Here’s [an update on the story](http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/6746030p-7697152c.html). ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/75 "2003-05-29T13:33:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyDust \* > \*\*Here’s [an update on the story](http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/6746030p-7697152c.html). \*\* Well the kid is going to be ok, the mother will be getting her just due, and nobody is getting sued. The way it should be. ---
**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/76 "2003-06-08T16:51:08Z")
[The mother pleaded innocent to felony child endangerment.](http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/06/04/state1447EDT0090.DTL) Hey, lady! They got it on tape! It shows you placing your child in the washer! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/77 "2003-06-08T17:21:41Z")
From **FairyDust** ’s link: > [@](#): > > \*\*The washing machine apparently had some unexpired time and began operating in its agitation phase when the door was closed, authorities said. \*\* “…unexpired time…”? “…began operating in its agitation phase…”? Makes me think that this machine had already been stopped, and the door opened, “mid-cycle”? But how? > [@](#): > > \*\*Surveillance videotape showed frantic efforts by the mother and bystanders to halt the washer and open the door. \*\* It’s years since I’ve used a laundromat, and never a US one. Any ideas, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/78 "2003-06-08T17:51:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > \*_Yet, I still think that having an off-switch on just about everything that has an on-switch is a good idea_ \*\* Actually, as much as it pains me to say it, an emergency override kill-switch probably isn’t a bad idea on industrial washers and dryers. Working in the woodshop, there is an emergency switch for all the genuinely dangerous stuff. Your buddy gets his hand pulled into the table saw – you can pound the big red button on the wall. Seems a little stoooopid for washers and dryers, however I will agree that, any machinery with accessible moving parts should have a kill switch… Then again they _are_ built with reasonable fail-safes. Agitation stops in washers and dryers when you open them so the machinery isn’t moving when you stick your hand in. And practically, in public laundromats, the potential for kill-switch abuse is high. In a hurry? Don’t want to wait? Kill that other person’s load and empty the machine. There is always going to be one numbskull who will do some mind-bogglingly stupid thing like put a kid in a washer, or a pair of drunken buddies who want to play spaceman or something. Just when you think you’ve foreseen the greatest idiocies possible, someone will come up with _something_ that you could not possibly have taken into account. Or some tool will decide to circumvent a safety feature and will get his hand pulled into the agitator drum. So a kill-switch might not make that much of a difference after all when it comes to protecting morons from themselves. _sigh_ You can’t win. Still, if laundromats had an attendant who had access to some kind of master kill-switch, it would take care of the incredibly rare but very serious issues like: “omigodthere’sakitteninthewash!” or a “hey, that guy just loaded the washer with 20 lbs of nails!” ---
**Author:** ![Rigel\_Haloran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rigel\_Haloran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigel_Haloran)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/79 "2003-06-08T19:36:53Z")
Or the “the motor’s on fire and the breaker didn’t trip” Yes I have PERSONALLY seen this. IMHO, anything electircal should have some sort of external kill switch. And yes, when I have my place built it will have a one button kill switch for the main breaker. ---
**Author:** ![Amberlei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Amberlei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amberlei)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401/80 "2003-06-08T20:10:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > \*\*From **FairyDust** ’s link: > “…unexpired time…”? “…began operating in its agitation phase…”? Makes me think that this machine had already been stopped, and the door opened, “mid-cycle”? But how? > > \*\* Ok, now I’m sensing a lawsuit in the future with the mother suing the manufacturer of the machine and/or the laundromat because she had a reasonable? expectation that the machine wouldn’t turn on. Do I think it’s right that she should be able to sue? Of course not! She did a very stupid and foolish thing. I don’t believe she meant any harm to come to the child, but she had to have known that placing children in washing machines is just not something one does. Would she consider putting her child in a microwave? There are some things that one just doesn’t do…and putting your child’s life at risk is most definitely one of those. I don’t believe she should regain custody of her children after this is all over, but I’m betting she will. If she does manage to sue the establishment or the manufacturer, I’m migrating outta here. I don’t want to live in a society where idiots like this get compensated for stupidity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-puts-2-year-old-in-washing-machine-wtf/177401.md?page=5)