Mom shopped in TJ Maxx as her son ‘profusely’ sweated in sweltering SUV, SC cops say
A South Carolina woman was shopping in a TJ Maxx while her young son was left alone in a hot SUV, authorities said.
The Charleston Police Department said the boy was sweating “profusely” and “warm to the touch” when he was found inside the SUV in the store parking lot on Monday, Aug. 1. At the time, National Weather Service data shows it was about 90 degrees but felt closer to 100.
The child made it to safety, and his mom is now charged, police wrote in an incident report.
Officers were called at about 6 p.m. to a shopping center on Sam Rittenburg Boulevard in the West Ashley area of Charleston. They reported discovering that a child had been “left unattended in a vehicle that was not running.”
Two people said they were walking to the store when they saw the child inside the Black SUV. The boy “was gesturing towards the sun, and was doing a ‘come here’ motion with his finger,” according to police.
After the pair called for help, officers arrested the 43-year-old mom. During questioning, she reportedly “admitted that she knew her son was in the vehicle and did not forget him.”
She said she wanted to shop for a hair product in TJ Maxx and “left her son in the vehicle so that she could get in and out of the store faster.” She told officials she had turned on the air conditioner and that her son spent about 15 minutes in the SUV, according to the incident report.
But police at the scene said the SUV wasn’t on and didn’t see any signs that the air conditioner had been running.
The child — described as having “puffy eyes” and being “in distress” — was taken to a children’s hospital.
The mom was booked into the Charleston County jail and charged with “unlawful conduct toward a child,” records show. She later posted bond.
Laura Dunn, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety specialist, told USA Today it usually takes 10 minutes for temperatures in a car to go up 20 degrees. Also, young kids can’t regulate their bodies the same way that adults do, meaning “no amount of time is safe” for leaving them in a car, the news outlet reported.
Each year, the United States sees an average of 38 hot car deaths among children 14 or younger, according to the National Safety Council. At least 13 have been reported in 2022.
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Mom shopped in TJ Maxx as her son ‘profusely’ sweated in sweltering SUV, SC cops say."
