A 6-week-old boy was left alone inside a locked car in the parking lot of a Northeast Walmart on July 21, although authorities have not announced criminal charges against the infant’s mother.
A witness found the child strapped into the seat of a 2005 Toyota Highlander parked outside the Walmart at 1 Franklin Mills Blvd. at about 6:30 p.m. and called 911, according to published reports. Temperatures peaked at 86 degrees and humidity at 84 percent in the Northeast that day.
Officers arrived at the scene reportedly at about the same time that the mother exited the store and returned to the vehicle. Police handcuffed her and demanded her car keys. The boy was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children for examination and was later released into his father’s custody. Authorities did not release the names of those involved.
Surveillance video from the scene revealed that the child had been left alone in the vehicle for about 30 minutes, according to news reports. ••
