LAKE WALES, Fla. — A Lake Wales mother was arrested for child neglect after police officers learned she had left her 3-year-old child unattended in the back of a hot car for nearly an hour Thursday morning, the Lake Wales Police Department said in a news release.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jykerria Allen was arrested for child neglect, leaving a child in an unattended vehicle and received a citation for driving with an unrestrained child, officers said. Allen reportedly left her child in the car in the parking lot of Central Florida Health Care on Central Avenue West.
Clinic staff reportedly told Allen she couldn't bring her 3-year-old inside for her appointment, so she told staff another family member would come to pick the child up. But, she left the child "unsupervised and unattended" for about an hour before officers were called.
Officers responded around 10:05 a.m. after a witness noticed the child was crying and alerted staff at the clinic, the department said. The child was brought inside and when Allen learned the police were on their way, she left with the 3-year-old.
Lake Wales police were able to pull Allen over within minutes and learned that her child was unrestrained without a booster seat, according to the department. The internal temperature of the car was reportedly 93 degrees.
Allen admitted to officers that she told clinic staff about calling a family member to pick up her child and that her car wasn't running with the windows only partially down, the department said.
"Thankfully, the child was not injured and did not appear to be suffering from any heat-related illnesses," the department stated in the release. "The child was placed in the care of another adult family member."