Car stolen with child inside; mother arrested for leaving him alone

Deveney Hood

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Deveney Hood

When a woman needed to do some laundry recently, she headed for a place on Moreland Avenue in southeast Atlanta. She had her 3-year-old son in the back seat.

She went into the coin laundry and left her son in the car with the engine running, saying she didn’t want to wake him, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Someone saw the car with the empty driver’s seat and took it — with the child still inside.

Police found the car about a mile away, with the engine running and the child in the back seat.

“I couldn’t imagine just running in and leaving my car running and coming back out,” laundromat customer Jeanie Clay said. “That’s awful.”

Deveney Hood, 25, was arrested on a reckless conduct charge, the news station reported.

“Well, you can’t leave your car running, not this day and time, because people are so desperate,” Clay said. “They don’t care if it’s a baby or if it’s a grown person or whomever.”

Know what's really going on with crime and public safety in your metro Atlanta community, including breaking news, trial coverage, trends and the latest on unsolved cases. Sign up for the AJC's crime and safety newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox.

In other news: