WPVI Action News spoke with the young boy's grandmother Wednesday, and she said that the child was with his babysitter when her male companion placed the child inside a washing machine at Federal Laundromat in Camden.
We caught up with the grandmother outside the Camden Police Department where she explained how the family found out about the incident after seeing the video on television. She went on to tell us that the man seen on surveillance placing the boy inside the washing machine is unknown to the family.
Police have not yet identified the babysitter and her companion. The laundromat's owner Laurie Chhour's son posted the May 11th surveillance video on YouTube last week and titled it "Epic Parenting Fail at a Laundromat."
The man was apparently playing a game with the little boy, who is possibly only 1-year-old, when he put the boy in the washer.
Both he and the woman, identified by the grandmother as the babysitter, quickly realized the spin cycle was on and the child was trapped.
"It was not right to do something like that to a little kid. How you going to shove a little kid in a washing machine? He's a human being," witness Carmen Rodriguez said.
The laundromat says the man didn't realize the machine had already been filled with money so when he loaded his child in and locked the door the washer started.
"He was very scared and was like 'oh, I'm in trouble,'" Chhour said. Laundromat worker Kong Eng ran over to the screaming couple, opened a back panel and killed the power to the washer.
He was able to free the boy.
"I pulled the baby out and then the baby still had a life and I'm very happy," Eng said.
"They should be supervising their children better and playing around in a laundromat is not a place to be playing at all," laundromat customer Michael Saccomanno of Camden said. The strong emotions continued online where the video has received more than 6-million hits and thousands of angry comments.
Witnesses say the boy came out with a few bruises but he was laughing and seemed to be fine by the time his parents took him home.
"I was thinking of putting up a sign. It sounds ridiculous, but it protects me," Chhour said.
The prosecutor's office says the incident doesn't appear to be criminal, but it is asking the man and woman to come forward and prove the boy is okay.
