Family's SUV ransacked outside Children's Hospital while daughter fights cancer

Windows of SUV parked in hospital parking lot smashed, inside trashed

DETROIT – A family already dealing with their young daughter's cancer treatments has additional stress after thieves left their SUV in shambles.

The family left an appointment at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and was shocked when they got to their car -- the windows of their SUV were smashed and the inside was trashed.

"Every time we come to get results, you're nervous the whole day," said Carole Phillips. "Your emotions are on high."

Phillips was at Children's Hospital with her 13-year-old daughter, Jaquileen, getting test results to see if the little girl's cancer was back. Thankfully, there was a good report.

"Cancer free. Yes! Which is the best news you could hope for. So we were all in a happy state of mind."

Then they saw their new Cadillac Escalade.

"[We] came out to the parking lot; came around and I saw glass," said Phillips.

The windows to the SUV had been smashed. Thieves ripped out the entire front dash -- the navigation and radio systems -- and had taken personal items.

"They were there for a while," Phillips said.

But Phillips said no one noticed anything. Not even security. The parking lot has a guard shack at the entrance as well as police patrolling.

"We love Detroit," said Phillips. "We've never felt scared and now I have a different position."

Phillips said she wants the hospital to increase security, which would give her family peace of mind during an already difficult time.

"I want them to acknowledge they didn't have the proper amount of security," said Phillips. "The doctors are great and it would be a tremendous shame if more people became victims and ended up leaving the care of the (Detroit Medical Center), because it would really be a disservice to the children to have to sacrifice that. But at the same time you have to weigh your family's safety."

In a statement to Local 4, DMC Chief Administrative Officer Conrad Mallett said, "We're very sorry that one of our family members suffered such a severe dislocation. We take every crime against property very seriously. We have on our campus more than six million cars each year and this is the sixth car break-in this year. We are working very hard to ensure that number is zero. One car break-in is too many, but six of our six million shows how seriously we take our customer service responsibility."