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Police: Parents Find Baby Strangled In Blinds

CHESTERFIELD (WWJ) - Chesterfield Township police are investigating the death of a 15-month-old girl who apparently became entangled in the drawstring of the window blinds in her bedroom and strangled.

The incident occurred late Thursday afternoon at the Aspen Creek Apartment Complex on 23 Mile Road, east of I-94.

"The parents, who were both present at the apartment at the time, describe a tragic accident stating they discovered their child entangled and hanging from the drawstring of the vertical window blinds in the child's bedroom, shortly after the time she was put down for a nap," said Chesterfield Township Police Dispatcher Gina Snyder.

Attorney Wolfgang Mueller, who is representing the family, issued a written statement: "This tragedy could have been prevented by the simple design of a cordless device that has been available since the 1990s and costs $2 to the manufacturer. The manufacturer of the blinds, knowing of the hazard since the 1980s, has to eliminate the problem through design. Poor warnings will never substitute for safe design."

An investigation into the child's death remains open, pending the results of an autopsy.

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