A 2-Year-Old Girl Walking Barefoot at a Red Light... Saved by a Citizen and Police 'Nose' [Heartwarming]

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[The Financial News] A barefoot 2-year-old girl who toddled across the middle of an intersection despite the red light was safely reunited with her family in just 30 minutes, thanks to the quick thinking of a citizen and police. The key clue that led officers to her home, even though her identity was hard to confirm because her fingerprints had not fully developed yet, was the scent of fabric softener on her clothes.
According to Jinhae Police Station in Gyeongsangnam-do on the 29th, a report was received at around 4:43 p.m. on the 13th of last month that "a 2-year-old girl was wandering around the road barefoot" at an intersection in Yongwon-dong, Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.
CCTV footage released by police showed the child, who was not wearing shoes, walking along the sidewalk and then stopping in front of a crosswalk. A moment later, she kept walking toward the middle of the road even though the light was still red.
In that dangerous moment, with cars still passing by, a citizen named Lim Seong-joon, who was waiting for a taxi on the sidewalk, immediately ran into the road, lifted the child into his arms, and carried her back to the sidewalk.
Lim explained the urgent situation at the time, saying, "She was so small that I thought a car might hit her."
Police who responded to the report took the child to Yongwon Police Box under Jinhae Police Station and began protective measures. To keep her from getting frightened, officers held her gently in their arms and comforted her, and they also carefully washed her dirty feet.
They then tried to check her fingerprints to identify her, but it was not easy.
Kang Seung-woo, a police officer at Yongwon Police Box under Jinhae Police Station, explained, "The child could not even speak yet, and her fingerprints had not fully developed, so it was difficult to search."
The clue was found in an unexpected place: the strong scent of fabric softener coming from the child's clothes.
Police judged that the toddler could not have traveled far and narrowed the search area to nearby residential neighborhoods. In particular, they focused on houses on the first floor and looked for a home with the same scent.
Kang recalled, "We searched mainly first-floor homes, and there was one house with a similar scent," adding, "It seemed the child, who had been in the main room with her aunt, came out while her aunt was asleep."
Fortunately, the child returned to her family unharmed. The girl's mother reportedly expressed her gratitude several times to the citizen and police who saved her child.
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sms@fnnews.com Seong Min-seo Reporter