Woman helps save baby she spotted in canal: ‘I thought it was a doll’
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/Gray News) - Police are investigating how an 11-month-old girl ended up in a drainage canal by a Kansas interstate. The baby was rescued after a woman driving past happened to spot her and called 911.
Officers with the Wichita Police Department responded a little after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to conduct a welfare check in the area of Interstate 135 and Pawnee. They had received a report of a child in the drainage canal by the interstate, KWCH reports.
Police and fire crews found an 11-month-old girl in the canal and safely got her out. She was taken to the hospital for a precautionary medical evaluation and placed under police protective custody.
“I can’t help but wonder what’s more important than not knowing where your 1-year-old is?” said Vickie Wyant, the woman who called 911 to report finding the baby.
Wyant says she was driving south on the interstate and looking into the canal when she saw “this lifelike doll.”
“I thought it was a doll. Its head was kind of bobbing in the wind, and all of a sudden, it does this (raises arms). I’m like, ‘That’s not a doll. That’s a real-life baby,’” she said.
She says she struggled to believe what she saw.
“I was hoping I was seeing things. I really was. I couldn’t believe I saw a baby in the canal route,” Wyant said. “I don’t know how the baby would get there.”
Wyant says following the guidance that if you “see something, say something” was critical to quickly alerting police about the baby.
“You just never know who you’ll save,” she said. “There’s thousands of people that travel 135. I know you’re supposed to keep your eyes on the road, but I can’t be the only one that saw a baby in the canal route.”
She adds she wouldn’t have been able to life with herself if the baby had died.
“Someone needed to do something,” Wyant said. “If it wasn’t me, somebody needed to... I felt much better knowing she was OK.”
The investigation into how the child ended up in the canal continues, but police are looking for Vincent James Perez for questioning. They believe he “may have information pertinent to the investigation.”
Police say Perez has an outstanding warrant through the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Anyone with information on where Perez could be should call 911, contact WPD detectives at 316-268-4407 or call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
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