Daycare staff locks baby girl alone in nursery after mistaking her for a doll

A crying, distressed baby was locked inside a daycare center after the staff went home for the night because the staff reportedly "thought she was a doll."

When Cornelius Jones, the tot's father, arrived to pick his daughter, Journee, up from the daycare in Chicago 15 minutes before it was meant to close for the night, he realized that the building was locked and nobody was inside. He told Fox 32 Chicago:

%shareLinks-quote="I was ringing the bell and no one came to the door, so I called the number and no one answered the phone, so I called again like two more times. I kicked the door two times, then I heard my baby screaming in the background." type="quote" author="Cornelius Jones" authordesc="" isquoteoftheday=%

Jones called Journee's mother, Quanesha Borum, as well as emergency services for help. Soon after making the calls, firefighters arrived at the scene to break into the building and rescue 1-year-old Journee.

The nursery director reportedly told Borum that the employee in charge of Journee had put the little girl down to sleep. Later, the employee informed the director that all of the children had gone home. Borum said:

%shareLinks-quote="But my thing is, I come here and I sign her in and out, so why wasn't the list checked before everybody left?" type="quote" author="Quanesha Borum" authordesc="" isquoteoftheday=%

Police are investigating the incident.

Watch this video to learn about a very similar incident that occurred at a different daycare:

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