Mom locks toddler in hot car outside theater so she can watch movie, FL cops say
The Lake City Police Department got a call about a young girl locked in a vehicle outside a movie theater on July 19, and they found a 2-year-old 'visibly distressed inside,' according to a news release.
Officers broke the driver's side window and rescued the child, who they said was 'flushed, sweating and crying.'
Temperatures that day reached 94 degrees, with the heat index reaching 107 degrees, according to police.
Investigators learned the child's 18-year-old mom had taken the girl and her siblings to the movies but removed her 2-year-old daughter from the theater after 'multiple disruptions,' police wrote.
She brought her daughter to the parking lot and locked her in the vehicle, then returned to the theater to continue watching the movie, according to officers.
Medical personnel took the toddler to a hospital, and the mom was arrested and charged with neglect of a child without great bodily harm, police said.
McClatchy News is not identifying the mom to protect the identity of her daughter.
Lake City is in north Florida, about a 60-mile drive west from Jacksonville.
Hot car deaths
More than 1,000 children have died in hot cars since 1998, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
'About 37 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car. During the summer, that's about two children every week killed in a hot car.'
Hot car deaths are most common in the summer, but they can happen at any time, according to the administration. The first 'vehicular heatstroke' of the year typically happens in March.
'Leaving a window open is not enough — temperatures inside the car can rise almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit within the first 10 minutes, even with a window cracked open,' the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
If you see a child alone in a vehicle, officials said you should make sure the child is responsive and if not, immediately call 911.
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