SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — Police in South Euclid have charged a 58-year-old East Cleveland man with endangering children after leaving his infant daughter inside a hot car at the Walmart parking lot.
According to the department's Facebook page, the incident happened on Monday evening. An officer on patrol was alerted by a Walmart shopper about an infant child left unattended in the back seat of a car.
The vehicle's windows were up, the temperature was approximately 75 degrees, humidity was high, and the vehicle was parked directly in the sunlight. Officers opened the vehicle and found that the 2-year-old girl appeared to be passed out. They observed she was physically warm to the touch, and was sweating. Officers were able to get her water while looking for a parent.
Approximately 15 minutes after police first were alerted, a man came out of Walmart and said he was the father of the girl. He told police that he had only been inside the store for approximately 10 minutes.
When he was asked why he left his daughter in the car, he stated that she was asleep and didn't want to wake her up. He also said that she had a cold.
Police obtained a still, timestamped photo of the man exiting his car at 7:04:29 p.m. He did not return back to the car until 7:23 p.m., leaving his daughter unattended in the vehicle for 19 minutes.
A witness submitted a written statement saying that when he pulled up, the infant child was in the car and when he came back out the child was still in the car. The witness told officers that he was inside Walmart for at least 10 min.
You can watch bodycam video of this incident from South Euclid police in the player below:
