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Surveillance cameras caught a toddler's journey through the baggage system of an airport after he managed to sneak past a ticket counter and climb on a conveyor belt on Monday.
The small boy walked away from his mother at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport while she attempted to print out her boarding pass at a kiosk, according to an Atlanta police report. The mother told police she looked away from her son "for one second" and he disappeared.
The police incident report says the child was born in 2016, but doesn't specify a month or day.
An airline employee told police the mother told him she believed that her son jumped on the bag conveyor belt, but he did not see or hear a child on the belt. He also told police that he did not see the boy go behind the ticket counter or climb on the belt.
Video footage released by the airport showed the boy walk through an unattended ticket counter and stand directly in front of a moving conveyor belt. The boy, wearing an orange shirt, climbs on to the belt and momentarily gets stuck before a black and yellow bag pushes him through to the other side of the wall.
Moments after he comes through a woman in a backpack can be seen running to the counter and a Spirit Airline employee stops the belt from moving.
After he disappears from the ticket counter, other cameras caught the boy's journey through the restricted areas of the airport. He seemingly tried to crawl back on the belt to the counter but was unable to climb over a purple hardshell suitcase before being pushed through a baggage drop.
Eventually the boy reached a Transportation Security Administration baggage area where TSA immediately noticed him come through on the belt and a man picks him up off the belt and to safety.
Emergency medical services treated the boy for a "severely swollen and bruised" right hand before he was transported to a hospital, according to the Atlanta police report.
Spirit Airlines said in a statement Wednesday that it was aware of an incident in which "an unattended child passed by a section of our ticket counter that was not staffed or open at the time."
"We are currently working with TSA and airport officials to ensure all protocol was followed," the airline said. "We wish the child the best in their recovery."
