A young father may be faced with charges for having forgotten his baby daughter in the car on a hot day in Jackson, Michigan. The incident took place at about 4 pm on August 9th, which is about 1 hour after the hottest time of day according to the farmer’s almanac.
The father, a 21-year-old, was out running some errands. He parked his car on Mechanic Street in Jackson and left to visit several nearby stores. While he was gone, a passerby noticed an unattended baby in the backseat of the car. The car was not running, so there was no air conditioning available to cool the child, and none of the windows were open.
For this reason, the passerby checked all of the car doors and found one to be unlocked. They removed the child from the vehicle, called 911 to report the situation, and then waited outside the car with the baby. When the young father returned to his car, he found a crowd standing around it, waiting for his return and the arrival of police.
Once officers arrived on the scene, they questioned the father about why he had left his 7-month-old baby alone in a hot car. The young man said that he had visited a number of businesses on that street, but had forgotten that his infant daughter was in the car with him.
Child Protective Services was contacted and took the child into temporary custody until the baby’s grandmother arrived and took her home. She will remain with her grandmother until CPS has completed their investigation and determined what course of action to pursue.
According to Jackson Police Deputy Chief Elmer Hitt, investigators suspect that the child was in the car for no more than 10 or 15 minutes. She was examined at the scene by paramedics, but was not transported to a hospital, which would lead one to believe that she was determined to be unharmed.
The baby’s father was not arrested, but police have said that they are forwarding a report of the incident to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. It will be up to the prosecutor to determine whether or not the father will be charged with neglect or abuse.