CASSELBERRY, Fla. – Police in Casselberry arrested two parents on Sunday after their child was found drenched with sweat inside a locked car.
The incident happened in the parking lot of a Home Depot on U.S. 17-92 at around 4:30 in the afternoon, according to police.
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Officers said witnesses heard the car alarm going off on a black Toyota with rolled up windows, where a child was inside trying to unlock the door. One person went and got a Home Depot employee while the other witnesses helped the child unlock the door, an arrest report reads.
Police said the child’s face was flushed and their clothes were drenched with sweat.
According to a report, the parents, Wengen Shi and Caijue Yuan, told officers that they decided to leave the child in the car because they were asleep. They told police they had only planned to be in the store for 10 minutes but they said Home Depot employees took too long.
The temperature outside at the time was 91 degrees, and police said the mother did not know that leaving a child inside a hot car could kill them.
The parents were taken into custody and face child neglect charges, investigators said.
The child was turned over to Child Protective Services for the time being.
In the state of Florida it is illegal to leave a child younger than 6 unattended or unsupervised in a vehicle for longer than 15 minutes, or for any period of time, if the vehicle is running, the child’s health is in danger, or if the child appears to be in distress.