SOLON, Ohio(KHN) – An Ohio mother has been charged with child endangerment after police say she left her kids alone in a car while shopping. Solon police officers said they were called to a shopping center by another resident who spotted a crying 1- and 6-year-old left alone in a vehicle on Feb. 4.
“Where’s your mommy?” an officer can be heard asking the older child on body camera footage released by the police department.
“In the store, because she does Instacart,” the 6-year-old responded to the officer. Police said the reported incident happened at the Giant Eagle supermarket on Aurora Road. Officers said the vehicle was still running and the doors were unlocked.
An employee told police the children were left alone in the car for more than five minutes.
Officers paged the mother, later identified as 26-year-old Mycal Davis, in the store and she returned to the vehicle about six minutes later, police said.
“You can’t leave your kids in the car by themselves like that,” an officer can be heard telling the mother. “But they were sleeping and I just went to get in there quick for their dinner,” she replied. “What’s wrong? Were they crying or something?”
“Yeah, they were crying and all the doors were unlocked,” the officer said. Another officer added, “Anybody could walk up and jump in the car and take off and leave.”
Thankfully, both kids were safe but sometimes these situations can take a much scarier turn. Last November, a Cleveland mom left her 8-year-old son asleep in the car while she ran out to pick up food.
“While she got out of her vehicle, she noticed another car pulled up next to her car, and the next thing she knew, her car was quickly being driven away,” Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz said.
According to Kids and Car Safety, last year 118 children were left unattended in cars that were then stolen. Authorities urge parents to never leave a child or a pet alone in their car, even for a minute.
Davis is scheduled in court on Feb. 26.
Reference: Mom charged with child endangerment for leaving kids in car while she shopped