DEL.ICIO.USCumming baby left locked in 95-degree car
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A Cumming mother is in jail on charges she left her five-month-old son locked in a hot car for 45 minutes.
Krystal Nicole Whitehead, 25, is the second mother in a week charged with leaving their children unattended while shopping in Metro Atlanta.
Courtesy of Forysth County Sheriff's Office
Krystal Whitehead was charged with leaving her 5-month-old son in a hot car in Cumming.
Whitehead is being held in the Forsyth County jail on charges of cruelty to children.
A Forsyth County Sheriff’s deputy was patrolling the Lakeland Plaza Shopping Center in Cumming on Friday night when a shopper alerted him to a baby left inside a Chevrolet Blazer, said Capt. Frank Huggins, spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
The deputy found the five-month-old secured in a car seat in the back seat. Several of the windows were rolled down, but the baby boy was alone, Huggins said.
The deputy rescued the boy and summoned paramedics.
“The boy was warm to the touch on the forehead and facial area,” Huggins said.
Whitehead and her 11-year-old daughter arrived from a nearby beauty supply store several minutes later.
“She said she forgot the infant in the car,” Huggins said. “She went into the beauty supply store to buy hair color. She said she realized she left the infant when another customer said police were outside.”
Paramedics transported the boy to Northside Hospital-Forsyth. The boy, who was not harmed, was checked out at the hospital and turned over the Division of Family and Children Services.
Whitehead was taken to jail, where she remains on a $22,110 bond.
Huggins said the child spent about 45 minutes inside the locked car, which reached 95 degrees.
“We need to remind people not to leave pets or children in unattended cars,” Huggins said. “It takes only a few minutes for the heat to build up to well over 100 degrees. Had more time passed, her irresponsible act could have had dire consequences.”
Clayton County police also rescued 4-month-old twins from a locked car on Saturday night. The mother, 26-year-old Janesia Williams, left the babies alone for about 20 minutes while she shopped in the Ellenwood Wal-Mart, police said.
Williams, of Barnesville, was charged with cruelty to children. She is free on bond.
Williams’ twins were not harmed.
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