A four-month-old baby was badly burnt after a cigarette discarded by a passing motorist landed in his lap.
Tom Miers was taking his son, Talyn, out alone for the first time in Fairfield, Hamilton, when a lit cigarette butt flew through the open front window, burning a 10cm
hole in Talyn's pants and his right thigh.
Talyn started screaming, Mr Miers said.
"I looked behind me and there was smoke billowing out from him," he told the Waikato Times.
"...I pulled over and put it out. I don't know what with. It's all a blur."
Talyn's mother Danni Winmill said smokers should be aware of the dangers of throwing cigarettes out windows.
"The odds of a lit cigarette being flicked out of one car and landing in the lap of a baby in another car is one in a million, but that doesn't make it okay," she told the paper.
The burn had still not healed after two weeks, Ms Winmill said.
There was no excuse for what had happened.
"I am furious no one can be held accountable and would really appreciate any help in getting this ignorant person to realise what they have done."
Mr Miers had been scared by what happened, Ms Winmill said.
"He hasn't taken him out since."
- NZPA
