Rachel Kinney and Alexandra Martellaro

WBIR-Knoxville

KNOXVILLE - A toddler is safe after getting stuck in a toy machine in Maryville.

The 18-month-old Colin Lambert managed to climb into the toy machine at a coin laundry shop at 1601 East Lamar Alexander at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Colin's grandmother, Diane O'Neill, says she looked away for just a moment to check a text message, and the little boy crawled in the machine while she was distracted.

"All I could see was his feet. He had already crawled in," she said. "I grabbed his feet and he kicked my hand and got in. Climbed up over the glass partition and sat down in the toys."

O'Neill says her grandson loves crawling into and onto just about everything he can, so she wasn't surprised when he got in, but was worried about the dangers inside the machine.

"My biggest fear was that he was going to climb back over and try to get back out," she said. "The plastic they had that held the toys in is cracked and broken in several places. I was afraid he was going to try to climb over and get hurt."

Maryville Fire Deputy Chief David Hodges said firefighters got the little boy out in a matter of minutes and the child was very excited to see the firefighters.

The best part of the incident-- firefighters let him pick a toy from the machine.

Hodges said this is rare call "but you never know what the next call holds."

This wasn't the first time someone in the O'Neill family needed to be rescued by police. When Colin's aunt was younger, she locked herself in a bathroom at TCBY Yogurt and police had to come open the door. Colin's uncle also once got stuck in a picnic table and had to be pulled out by firefighters.