Authorities in Arizona say a woman was arrested last week on suspicion of child abuse and child endangerment after allegedly leaving her baby in a locked car with temperatures on a day temperatures hit 114 degrees.
According to KSAZ, police officers in Glendale received a call of a child inside a vehicle parked in a supermarket parking lot.
Reports indicate the engine was turned off and the windows were up when they found the baby. Shortly after arriving, officers reportedly smashed through a front window to retrieve the baby and emergency personnel on the scene said the baby had no obvious injuries.
After an announcement inside the store called for the car’s owner, responding officers interviewed 27-year-old Jessica Umtuch. She reportedly told them that made a last-minute decision to take the child with her to the store.
She claimed to have “forgotten the child in the car due to the child quietly sleeping,” police reports show.
Reportedly telling officers that her “mind was in a different place” due in part to an ongoing spat with her boyfriend and only realized her mistake when supermarket staff got her attention.
As it was, police say she left her baby in the car for about 16 minutes, based on surveillance footage, but would have been inside the store shopping for much longer if someone had not discovered the child.
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[Featured image: Jessica Umtuch, police handout]
