Mom leaves 1-year-old in car to shop, Louisiana cops say. Then baby tries to escape
A baby nearly crawled through an open sunroof after his mother is accused of leaving him alone in a car, Louisiana police say.
Passersby spotted the 1-year-old trying to escape the locked vehicle on Nov. 27 outside a shopping center in Kenner, prompting “several” 911 calls, police said in a Dec. 2 news release.
“There are no words to express the shock and anger over this, so we will leave it at that,” Police Chief Keith Conley said in a statement posted on the department’s Facebook page. “This is a crime.”
Officers found the boy’s mom, from Metairie, shopping at a store nearby. She was arrested and charged with child desertion, police said.
McClatchy News isn’t naming the woman to protect her child’s identity.
Photos posted by police show the baby standing on the car’s center console with part of his head poking from the sunroof. Officers safely removed the boy, who was not harmed, police said.
“Thank you to all the people that called 911 and looked out for the welfare of this baby,” Conley said. “Had he made it out of the car, through the sunroof, a fall from that height could prove fatal.”
Authorities said the child was placed in the care of relatives.
Kenner is about a 13-mile drive west from downtown New Orleans.