Davis Law Group, P.S.

A Mom Accidentally Runs Over Her 19-Month-Old Baby Boy

A mother discusses that back up devices cannot always spot someone behind your car, after losing her 19-month-old baby boy, Jack.

It was a morning Karen Pauly will never forget.

"We had breakfast, the four of us. Then my daughter and I were gonna go to town and run some errands," she said.

Her and her daughter Lilly got in her SUV to leave, while Karen’s husband and son Jack were in the house. They shut the door and left.

Pauly was backing out from the garage on that Sunday morning and it felt as though she hit something. It was Jack.

Jack opened a door for the first time ever and rushed to his mom’s car. He fell under the driver’s-side front tire before she saw him.

"I was in total shock. And I just remember picking him up and I started screaming, and then my husband came out and took him from me and I called 911," Pauly said.

The young boy was rushed to the hospital but died hours later.

Before this traumatic event, Pauly called her life "perfect".

"I do not want this to happen to anybody," she said.

Due to where Jack was, the backup sensors on the car were not working. He also would have been out of view for any camera that faced the back of the car.

"I just feel like I have to continue to tell his story, and I'll continue to tell it as many times as I need to, to make sure this happened for a reason," Karen said.

She wants to let people know that NOT every device warns you of people behind your car.
She feels that it is a false sense of safety for people to believe nothing is behind their car when backing up.

If you have a camera and fancy motion detector, YOU, as the driver, NEED to be aware of your surroundings - do not solely rely on your car to warn you. Technology is not perfect. You must always be cautious and attentive when backing out in your vehicle.