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Jun 24, 2009 10:23 pm US/Central
Mother Shops At Wal-Mart & Leaves Baby In Hot Car
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A North Texas mother is behind bars accused of leaving her 2-month-old daughter locked inside a hot car, while she went shopping. Police say the baby could have died if a Good Samaritan hadn't rescued her.
The incident happened at a Wal-Mart Store in North Fort Worth.
Witnesses say the baby had been in the locked in the car for more than five minutes before she was found. Yesterday's incident happened at 4:30 in the afternoon, under the hot sun.
"It was a miracle. I think it was," said Good Samaritan James Henson.
Henson said he didn't expect to run into his daughter in the Wal-Mart parking lot yesterday afternoon, but he's glad he did. "We sat and talked behind her car for a while, and then it was hot so I said let's go in," he recalled.
As the two started walking toward the store, Henson's daughter noticed a baby alone in the backseat of a car parked next to them. "It [the car seat] was facing the back window and the sun was beating right down on the baby's face," Henson said.
Henson said he checked the vehicle and found all the windows rolled up and the doors were locked; so he called 911. "I told him I was going to break the back window out. He [the 911 operator] said, 'No problem. Do it.'"
After pounding on the window three times with a crow bar, it finally broke. A Wal-Mart employee grabbed the baby and took her inside until paramedics arrived. Then Henson said store employees did something else. "They paged the owner of the car to come to the office and no one was showing up."
According to police, it was about 15 minutes later that the baby's mother, Jessica Liston, finally returned to her car. The 21-year-old Watauga woman was arrested on suspicion of Felony Injury to a Child.
"The child was obviously dehydrated and warm to the touch," said Fort Worth Police Department Spokesperson Sgt. Pedro Criado. "The child was ultimately taken to Cook Children's Hospital."
Doctors say it doesn't take long for a child to get seriously ill in a hot car. "We would never want a child left in a hot car for any amount of time," explained Cook Children's Hospital Dr. Vanessa Charette.
Dr. Charette says a child's temperature can start to rise quickly and cause increased heart rate, seizures, stroke, and ultimately death.
Fortunately, the baby girl in this case recovered after being treated for dehydration. Police say her injuries were limited thanks to a concerned truck driver who took matters into his own hands. "That's God's doing. I take no credit for any of this," said Henson. "My daughter, she went between the cars. She was put there for a reason. That baby's very lucky."
CBS 11 News tried to contact someone from Liston's family, but no one was home. The young mother reportedly told officers at the Wal-Mart that she thought her mother had taken the baby inside.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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