Queens Mother Arrested After Police Smash Window To Save Toddler From Potential Hot Car Incident
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A mother in Queens has been arrested after police say they rescued her toddler from another potential hot car tragedy.
The NYPD says officers arrested 32-year-old Monalisa Gomes outside the Target store in College Point on Friday.
Investigators tell CBS2 the three-year-old boy was left inside the car – which was not running and locked.
The boy was also wearing a jacket.
First responders had to break a window in order to get the child out around 3:30 p.m.
The toddler was taken to an area hospital for an evaluation and is listed in good condition.
Gomes is now facing charges including reckless endangerment.
"It's not a new incident, it happens quite often where people wanna shop and leave their kids in the car, or their dogs too," Target employee Chris Carlson said.
That employee was right -- on the same day as this incident, a 17-year-old was arrested for stealing a car with a baby in the back seat in Brooklyn. The child's mom left the vehicle running as she ran inside to grab dinner.
The close call comes after three small children died in New York and New Jersey in just the last month.
On August 16, a 22-month-old child was left in her family's minivan at a Lindenwold rail station. The girl died before first responders could arrive and her family did not return to the scene for another three hours.
Just three weeks before that, a New York father left his one-year-old twins in the back of his car in the Bronx. They died after staying the car for eight hours.
Both cases are still being investigated by police, it's unknown if the parents in either incident will be charged.