Jennifer Garner accidentally locks Violet in car

Jennifer Garner, 36, experienced the ultimate mommy ‘uh-oh’ moment Thursday when she accidentally locked daughter Violet Anne, 2 ½, in her car.  Violet was holding the only key to Jennifer’s Lexus (see photo at left!) when the actress shut the door, which automatically locked behind her. Jennifer kept her cool, however, and instructed Violet on how to unlock the door from the inside.  The two then "happily carried on" with their lunch date at the Brentwood Country Mart in Brentwood, CA, the Daily Mail reported.

Source:  Daily Mail; Photo by FAME

Have you ever accidentally locked your child in the car?  How did it happen?  How did you set your child free?

Comments

Amanda on June 14th, 2008

What a smart kid! Jennifer is lucky she had Violet unbuckled already.
Last summer after grocery shopping I buckled my kids in my van, started the car and luckily the a/c (though it was only on low on a hot day), I went back to loading my groceries and then shut the door to go bring the cart back and heard the tell tale *click* of my doors locking and immediately panicked! My oldest was only *almost* 3 at the time and couldn’t unbuckle herself, I stayed by the car until I saw someone going into the store and asked them to please tell the customer service desk (times like those I wish I had a cell phone) I knew my husband was out of town with my only spare key so I ended up having them call a lock smith, and I had NO money so I had to have the lock smith follow me home and borrow the money from my neighbor! What a day! Hope it’s one nobody ever has to repeat!

Sarah on June 14th, 2008

I accidentally locked the 4 y.o. I babysit for in her mom’s car last summer (her car locks itself automatically, I didnt hear the click and the keys were in the car). Thankfully we were in the driveway so I quickly got the spare set. After that though, I taught her how to unlock the doors (since she didnt know how) and we did “practice runs” every now and then with the mom’s car AND my car.

tegan on June 14th, 2008

That must’ve been scary!. Im glad Jen kept her cool.

Stef on June 14th, 2008

My mom did with my sister back in the day. My sis was six months old and asleep in the car seat, and my mom had to call up my uncle to open it. (Everyone in the family had a copy of everyone’s keys for just such an occurance.)
The only bad part of the whole issue was that she had to call my uncle out of the hospital where he was with my aunt, who had just given birth to twins.

Mari on June 14th, 2008

Oh yeah…been there, done that. Fortunately Violet was old enough to help Mommy out and all’s well that ends well.

Sarah on June 14th, 2008

I once locked myself in my bedroom when I was 2. My mom could not open the door with the spare key because the key was in the lock on the other side. She asked me to take the key out of the lock and was able to open it from the other side.
I think she got the fright of her life and never left the key in the lock again.

Melissa on June 14th, 2008

When my second son was only couple weeks old my husband was leaving town for a week so I decided to pack the baby and my three year old up and go to my parents so I would have some help. I loaded all our stuff in the car, placed the baby in and then closed the door and walked around to the backyard to get my three year old. When we returned we found the door locked with the baby, house keys and cell phone inside. We lived out in the country and our nearest nieghbor was a mile away. We had two spares, one was with my husband and the other was locked in the house. I started walking around the house looking for an unlocked window and found the kitchen one unlocked. It was too high and narrow for me to fit through. So I lifted my three year old up and helped him through the window. Like a little monkey he climbed down off counter and went and opened the door for me. He stills brags about the time he “saved” his baby brother.

Nikka on June 14th, 2008

Ihaven’t but a friend of mine locked the door from the appartment with two small kids she was babysitting, and back then there was no 24/7 service in my country !!! the kids were way too small to be instructed, they couldn’t even walk
I myself locked the car once from the outside but had the boy i was babysitting fortunately with me (outside) it’s very scary feeling though

zaoli on June 14th, 2008

I did this once, baby buckled in his carseat, snowing outside. The doorman to our building called 911, I asked him to call a locksmith. Loads of fire trucks came screaming down the road, embarrassing!

Liz on June 14th, 2008

I haven’t locked my kids in a car so far, thankfully. But my two year locked me in the garage when we first moved into our current house. I haven’t had spare for the garage door yet. luckily I left my cell in the car and was able to call the lock-smith.

Megan B on June 14th, 2008

I don’t have kids of my own yet but I have no doubt they’ll hear this story on numerous occasions.

It was my first Christmas, I was exactly three weeks old and my brother is two years and ten days older than me.

Apparently I was crying so my mom gave me the car keys and then accidentally shut the door before she’d unlocked the driver’s door.

My mom tried to get my two year old brother to unlock the door, but he thought it was the funniest thing ever and just laughed.

Thankfully, our next door neighbor and good friend had just pulled into her driveway returning from work. She’s a state trooper and thankfully was in her patrol car. She had to break in the old fashion way.

manda on June 14th, 2008

Aw Violet’s such a little doll. I could picture her looking at Jen guiding lil Violet through

Crystal on June 14th, 2008

Last year we had just gotten a new dog and i (and my 4 yr old son and 1 yr old daughter) had to take her to the vet ..but first needed to stop for gas.. so i get out leaving the keys in the car (normally i leave the door open but because i had the dog i had to close the door and forgot to grab the keys) and while i was pumping the gas the dog got into my seat and hit the auto lock button.. locking her and the 2 kids in the van..Thank god i hadnt dropped my 4 yr old off at preK yet he was able to get up and unlock the doors… if my 4 yr old hadnt been there i dont know what i would have done… I always take my keys with me now.. dog or no dog..
Violet seems like such a smart little girl..

ang on June 14th, 2008

i locked myself in my grandma’s bathroom once. it was an old lock with a keyhole so they could see me(sort of)i was about 4 or 5 and thought my life was over.problem was, my grandma was the overprotective type, so i doubt i got to go to the bathroom by myself ever again!

Lisa on June 14th, 2008

when my son was about 2, I strapped him into the minivan and for some dumb reason, I tossed my keys into the driver’s seat. When I shut the side door, I heard the clicking of the locks, and realized that when I had tossed the keys, it must have hit the lock button on the remote keyring. He was fine, the temperature outside was about 60, and I ran inside the office building where we were, and called the police to come and use their special tool (which broke my lock) to get him out. I was about 3 minutes away from busting the window…the policeman took what seemed like forever to get there.

tink1217 on June 14th, 2008

never locked my kids in the car, but my first minivan had those automatic locking doors and when I drove to get the mail (at the center of our complex) I shut the door behind me with the van running and it locked. I had to walk 3 blocks home to get my spare. Luckily my husband was home and drove me back. My van sat there running for 10 minutes while I walked home. I felt so stupid! My Honda Odyssey won’t lock by itself thankfully!!

Morgan on June 14th, 2008

I have! I had already put my newborn into his seat. I changed my two year old’s diaper in the front seat, then picked him up to put him in his. When I shut the door I realized all the doors were locked and the keys were inside. I had to call my husband to come and unlock it for us. The 10 minutes it took him to get there seemed like FOREVER!

Benni on June 14th, 2008

I think its a natural mistake, alot of parents have been there and I think Jennifer is no different. But I wonder if tomorrow CBB reports that Britney Spears locked her son or sons in the car, what the response of CBB readers would be… honest mistake or terrible neglectful mother?

Ashleigh-faye on June 14th, 2008

We stayed at a nice hotel on the beach last weekend while I photographed a wedding. While I was away shooting the girls getting ready my hubby locked our 18 month old in the hotel room. He went out to put the beach towels on the chair and heard a “click”. My son being the goof he was started to play peek a boo with him through the window. After a 4 min game my hubby finaly got Paxton to open the door! hehehehe

Autumn on June 14th, 2008

How do you know that Violet wasn’t buckled in? As long as Vi was holding the key fob/remote control to the door locks, Jen could’ve told her which button to push on that even from her carseat…although it might be interesting explaining to a 2 1/2 yr old which button to push! lol!

The unlock button on the fob to my Focus is more worn off than the lock button (I think), so that’s how I could tell the difference…but to explain that to a toddler/preschooler might be a little tricky.

violet's Auntie on June 14th, 2008

Am surprised that particular late model Lexus (by Toyota) does not have a “smart key.” As long as you have it on you, near you or in the car or on Violet, you can never lock yourself out.

Harley on June 14th, 2008

lol, I doubt she’ll be the last person to ever lock her kiddo in the car. I’ve locked myself (as a child) in the truck, in Alaska in the middle of winter while my mom went to run an errand, thank God the heater was running. Next thing I know, mom is telling me how to unlock the car, at the Coast Guard base with 3 other Coast Guardsmen around her watching a 2 year old make faces on the window

Boston on June 14th, 2008

My dad locked me in the car when I was 2 in a shopping plaza. The window was open a crack and he managed to unlock the car with a coat hanger he got from inside one of the stores. That method wouldn’t work so well these days, I could only be so lucky with my own kids!

tiffanyyy on June 14th, 2008

Well my incident didnt happen in a car it happened at home..I was 11 and taking care of my baby sis who I had just put in the swing in my parents room..I walked out of their room and I guess I closed the door a little to hard(if closed hard the door would lock on its own) and Ahhh I instantly panicked..So I thought for a while and went into the garage and grabbed the highest chair I could find and put it under the window..I managed to open the window and crawl through it….ahh a day to remember!

Stephany on June 14th, 2008

Wow, these are some stories! They were fun to read but must have been horrifying during the ordeal! Good thing everyone kept their cool.

Rachel-Jane on June 14th, 2008

My mum locked me in the car once, although not by an ‘auto-lock’. We were going into a restaurant and my Gran had taken my 2 younger sisters inside already. I was finishing reading something (I was 6) and my mum was getting my baby brother out of the car, and didn’t realise I was still in, so shut the door, locked it and walked away. It wasn’t til she got inside and realised I wasn’t there with my Gran that she panicked, especially as the carpark was beside a river! Luckily of course, I was in no harm, I was just sitting crying my eyes out because I’d been locked in for 10 minutes!

J.M. on June 14th, 2008

Thank goodness I haven’t had that moment although it is one I fear esp. in the summer time! But my aunt locked my cousin in the car when she was 2 and she was strapped in her carseat. My aunt had to go call my uncle to come with the spare key. Luckily my cousin was not phased by the situation.

My nephew when he was 3 decided to lock himself in the bathroom and no matter how much we guided him to unlock it (although he figured out how to lock it) he couldn’t do it! We couldn’t find the key (of course) so my brother had to unscrew the door knob to get him out! Needless to say he never did it again and now he’s 7 and he always says, “do you remember when I locked myself in the bathroom!”

jools on June 14th, 2008

My father-in-law locked my 4 daughter and 2 year old son in his car right in front of our house when he was dropping them off after a visit. (I’m still not sure how he managed to do it). Anyway, there is a fire station right up the street, and my husband summoned the rescue team to come get them out! It was so crazy because they went into full operation mode–posting a man at each door while one worked on the lock in the front with a jimmy. When they got the car unlocked, the firemen flung the doors open, unstrapped the kids, and pulled them out of the car. At that point the kids were actually terrified and both screaming. We were so grateful though, and once everyone calmed down we got to take a look at the rescue truck. Quite an ordeal, and one they still talk about a year later!

Brittany on June 14th, 2008

When I was about three my mom used to babysit my cousins around the corner from our apartment. She put me in the car and i locked her out. My uncle kept telling e to open the door. I laughed and kept telling him no. Finally my uncle drove to the apartment to get the spare key. My mom and uncle were both very upset to say the least.

Mel on June 14th, 2008

I would love to see reactions from this site if Brittney Spears locked her kid(s) in a car…

Emily on June 14th, 2008

Been there done that. My 2yr old was holding the keys while I was buckling his 1yr old sister in the car. I closed the door and didn’t realize he had locked them until I went to open my door. I panicked because the 1yr old was trached and on oxygen at the time. Living in the country an hour away from hubby’s work I had to call 911 because we had a short span of time before the baby would into respiratory distress. The fire department came out, broke my window and opened the car. Never has the 2yr old held the keys again and I always have the baby hooked up to a full tank of oxygen now.

marcia on June 14th, 2008

OMGosh yes I’ve accidently locked my daughter in the car…It was such a nightmere but thankfully ended well…s he was much younger than violet though… i just left the stupid keys on the seat when I went to strap her into her chair Ani was only 6 or 7mos at the time and I got out of the car and didn’t realize that the doors were locked. I closed the door went to open the driver side door and it wouldn’t budge!! lol thankfully there happened to be a fire truck close by and I ran over and they got the car unlocked…. oh man being a mom!!! lol

jenny on June 14th, 2008

though I’ve never locked my keys in the car, i always keep an extra key in the zippered part of my purse just in case. obviously, you could lock your purse in the car too…but its nice to know you have a back up!

Angelface on June 14th, 2008

Thankfully, I have never locked a child in my car, however, my Cocker Spaniel Zoe has locked me out of the car on a few occassions. Once, while I was on the phone with Road Side assistance Zoe decided she would let Mommy back in and stepped on the button to put the window down (the car was running) It was comical explaining to Road Side Assistance, “nevermind, my dog put the window down for me!” Lol! On another occassion, he put the window down,jumped out of the car and tried to get into a restaraunt after me when I stopped to pick up lunch one day! She hates to be away from her Mommy! I’ve since learned to always keep a spare key with me and to put the window locks on so she can’t ever jump out after me again (it actually caused her to have to have surgery from the jump)
I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that wether Violet was still buckled in or not, she is bright enough to get out on her own. My God Daughter who just turned 2 yesterday has been able to buckle and unbuckle herself from both of her different car seats for the past 3 months. She is such a smart little cookie!She even knows to ONLY ever do it when its time to get in or get out. I have no doubt she would be able to unlock the door for me if the situation ever arose, but hopefully I wont ever have to find out for sure!

Dorothea on June 15th, 2008

lol. Something similar happened to me with our 2-year-old recently: He locked himself inside the house (or me outside without keys…). I luckily got him to move a chair to the door, get on it and open the door again. I also was very proud of him

JJCK on June 15th, 2008

I was wondering why one of the pictures showed her peering into the car!

I haven’t got kids of my own, but when I was about five, my family had just moved into a new house. It was about 10pm the first night we were there, and my sister and I were asleep when my parents locked themselves out of the garage. The problem was, my sister and I could sleep through a tornado, so they stood out there screaming for quite a while. Eventually they had to go to the neighbors and call a locksmith. We found out about it the next morning.

Callie on June 15th, 2008

When my daughter was about 6 weeks old I stopped to buy gas. I drove a very old Volvo that my dad had modified to have keyless entry. My keys were in the ignition and I closed the driver door because it was cold out and then I heard this “thunk”. For some reason, my keyless entry activated, even though nobody was touching it. So the gas station owner calls the fire department. At this point I start to both laugh and panic, because I know that you cant use one of those metal door openers on a volvo. They were designed specifically to STOP someone from opening one like that. So the fire truck rolls up and the guys pull out their tools and start working, and Im standing there laughing and crying at the same time saying “Thats not going to work”. Fortunately my mom had not left her house to go to work yet and was able to drive over with a spare key. Ill just never forget the puzzled look on the firemans faces when they saw the keys in the ignition and the doors all locked.

Alix on June 15th, 2008

My mom locked me in the car… not exactly me… but my finger. She tought I was out from the car and closed the “door” (excuse me, I’m french…) on my finger. And the keys were inside the car!!!
After a few seconds, we succed to put my finger away from the door, and we had to call my father who was with a patient (he’s a dentist surgeon)… ouf!

My finger he’s doing very well.
But I was and my mother too, very scared, I was 4.

Liz on June 15th, 2008

My parents locked me in the car when I was an infant…accidentally of course. But they had to call the police to come and unlock the door because I was only about 8 months or so…and in the middle of winter….

Jasmine C. on June 15th, 2008

It never happened to me yet.. and I say yet because I think it will be just a matter of time before it does! I am constantly throwing my keys on the drivers seat or next to the car seat when I strap my two year old in…and I have those automatic locking doors too and they are always locking me outside the car but luckily I have always had my keys in my hand when it does lock:)

candykane on June 15th, 2008

My mother in law looked my almost two year old in the car. It took almost three hours to get her out. The police said call AAA and AAA said call the police. It finally tood the policeofficer yelling at AAA for them to come out. Luckily my daughter thought is was pretty funny until the last 30 minutes. She got a police batch for that. I just saw the officer yesterday and he still remembers!!! It happened about 8 years ago

JK on June 15th, 2008

I used to be a nanny to twins. I did that! They were about 9 months old. I had to call the police to come and get them out. They were totally calm and cool through the whole process while lots of strangers stared through the windows at them. I just kept this stupid smile on my face the whole time so they wouldn’t be afraid. And they kept looking at me like, “This is fun, huh?”

Kate on June 15th, 2008

Once my Aunt and her friend went out with her friends 6mth old baby, in winter. They went to the school to register the older kids for soccer or something. When they got back to the car, they realized they had BOTH forgotten that the baby was with them. But there he was, sound asleep, all snuggled warm in his blankets. His Mom was in hysterics and my Aunt in shock. She said “it just goes to show you when you hear those stories about Mom’s forgetting the kids are with them, that it actually CAN happen. There were TWO of us there and we both forgot we had the baby with us.”

Becky on June 15th, 2008

I didn’t lock my daughter in the car..yet….but she locked me out of the house! I snuck outside on the back desk to smoke (I know, bad…trying to stop) and my daughter was in her room watching The Wiggles, but she came out, saw me outside and walked up to the slidding door and pulled the lever down. She is only 2. I was trying to tell her how to push the lever up and she saw the panick on my face and she starting getting upset (later I realized she never would have been able to push it up. It is super easy to push down, but stiff to push up). I didn’t know what to do. I was wearing my PJs and no shoes and I didn’t have my cell phone. My mom lives down the street just a little, but I didn’t want to leave Natalie alone while I ran down there. My hubby was fishing and god only knows when he would be back. I thought for a second and I remembered I had put the thermometor cord outside and I couldn’t get the window to latch after and ask my husband to do it. So I checked to see if maybe just maybe he never did it. Boy was I relieved to realize that again, he didn’t do what I asked. The balcony is right to the side of the window and there is a bush directly out of the window. I took off the screen, opened the window and then carefully had to reach in and move the drying rack and bowls on it without dropping them, because “my little helper” would try to pick it up and if it was broken glass…..

Natalie was standing in the kitchen staring at me with the most confused lock. So after I moved everything, I had to sit on the balcony and wing my legs in and then scoot in the window carefully so I don’t fall down in the bush. I am SO glad a neighbor didn’t see and call the cops for some woman breaking in. Needless to say the kitchen window is locked and a spare key is hidden outside. Note to self….make sure your child does not lock you outside! Bring keys with you or hide one outside.

H.N on June 15th, 2008

I accidentally locked my niece who was 20 months in the car in a parking lot. My keys and phone and everything were in the car and she was already buckled in so she couldn’t reach the unlock button. I had to borrow a cell phone and call 911. The ambulance came and they used a hanger to unlock the door. I was so scared. Hopefully I won’t ever do that again. Now I try to always remember to a spare key in my pocket before I go anywhere.

nicole on June 15th, 2008

Okay, I have received an email about the 5 things you never knew your cell phone could do….and this is one of them. If you lock your keys in your car (of course if you have your cell phone on you) call someone who has another set with a remote which has an unlock/lock button have them hit the unlock button and through the tranmission of your cell phone, it should unlock your car. I don’t know how this works but it has for a friend of mine, that is the only reason I am posting this. I feel it wouldn’t hurt to try if you were in a desperate situation!
GoodLuck!

jenny on June 15th, 2008

nicole- that was a rumor, it was debunked on http://www.snopes.com……man would tha tbe cool though!

Liza on June 15th, 2008

Oh God.

My now 3 year old son locked himself in the car with the keys at the grocery store when he was 20 months old. I had been inside with him making a payment on my utility bills, and they told me there was a processing fee, so I was not about to write another check for a dollar, so I told the kid working there that I would be right back, I was running to get change from my car. I let Ezra have the keys and plopped him on the passengers side chair, and i went around to dig through my change. *click* Doors locked, kid in car with keys. Now, Ezra some how remembered WHICH KEY WAS THE IGNITION. NO LIE the child jumped into the drivers side, put the key in the ignition and was laughing and screeching, as I’m just about peeing my pants. Luckily for me, a small crowd was forming, and my son took the car out of gear, to neutral. He never turned the car on, but my old hooptie wagon, you can pull out of park with just the key in the ignition. Cops were called and when they got there, my son just reached over and unlocked the door. I was so mad, mostly because I had to go back into the grocery store and finish paying my bill!!!!! hahahahahahahah that all SUCKED

Elyse on June 15th, 2008

Wow, I never realized how frequently this happens! I am SURE that at some point it will happen to me when I have kids! Just out of curiosity I wonder what the fireman think when they get a call about a parent locking their kids in the car? It sounds like that is a rescue they have to do quite a bit!

Julie on June 15th, 2008

Well, no locking in the car yet, but I went outside and my 2 year old daughter turns the lock and locks me out. I had to yell to her twin brother and try to talk him thru turning the lock the other way to let mommy in. He did it for me, but my daughter thinks it’s funny now, so I bring the key out on the porch with me so I can let myself back in! Darn Kids!!!

erin on June 16th, 2008

When my son was 2 weeks old, I took him to visit his Daddy at the hospital he works at. I left my keys sitting on the front seat when I grabbed the diaper bag and my purse. When I closed the door, I realized that the doors were all locked and my poor poor baby boy was stuck in what would soon become a very hot car! I FREAKED. Luckily hospital security was driving by and they had a slim jim that they used to get the door open for me.
I was so embarrassed!

Susie on June 18th, 2008

Not a baby, but I did manage to lock myself out of the car while it was running! I was heavily pregnant, in an icy parking lot in western NY! My husband was at work with the spare keys, so I had to get my sister’s then-boyfriend to drive me to his job and back again. It was LITERALLY a half hour plus of the car running with the doors locked. Ugh! I locked my keys in the car numerous times while I was pregnant, I told people I was brain dead from pregnancy!

It happens to the best of us!

lili on June 25th, 2008

and if it was britney?

the double stadart in this word is unbleivble.

and how mean people can be even more.

I hope gen and her kid are ok

ps: where is the bashing of the hcp lead singer the drive with his son in his lap?

where are all the prents, all the meg where is all the media???

blinded by the media and their hate, sheak my head