Boy, 5, desperately bangs on window after being left in sweltering Mercedes while mom shopped at Walmart
A mother left her 5-year-old son in a parked Mercedes with the windows rolled up while she shopped at a Walmart on a muggy South Florida afternoon, police said.
The boy, who was frantically knocking on the car window to get the attention of passersby, was eventually freed by Walmart employees, the police report said.
Martine Louis-Jacques, 62, was charged with child abuse without serious bodily harm and appeared in court on Tuesday. NBC 6 South Florida reported.
Police said the boy, who has not been identified, was “scared and upset” after being left in the car for about 20 minutes while his mother shopped at the store in Pembroke Pines.
The Walmart employees observed the child [redacted] “Unattended in the vehicle, which was completely locked and all windows were open,” it said.
Martine Louis-Jacques, 62, of Miramar, was arrested Monday after leaving her son in her hot Mercedes for 20 minutes while she was shopping at Walmart
A passerby in the parking lot alerted a Walmart employee to the situation. Eventually, the store employees were able to free the boy by instructing him to unlock the car from the inside.
After employees brought the boy inside, he ran to his mother, police said. The two left the location without speaking to employees and before police arrived.
The Miramar resident was arrested at her home after police used CCTV to identify her car and track down her address.
The child was freed from the car after he attracted the attention of a passerby
She was taken to the Broward Sheriff’s Office jail and her bail was set at $3,500.
According to a US government study, about 40 children die from heatstroke after being trapped in hot cars. Children and car safetyan advocacy group.
More than 1,000 children have died in such incidents over the past three decades.