NE Miami-Dade mom charged after child found alone in vehicle screaming for help
MIAMI - Screams for help from a young girl locked in a BMW in northeast Miami-Dade led to the arrest of her mother on Monday.
Miami-Dade police said around 2 a.m., a passerby heard the child's plea for help from an unattended vehicle parked at 1601 NE 19 Street. The woman would later tell police that the five-year-old girl, who was strapped in a car seat, was yelling "Somebody help me!" She called the police. The child, with the woman's help, was able to free herself and get out of the car, according to police.
Police said when officers arrived, the girl told them the apartment where she lived with her mother, identified as 33-year-old Valerie Vincente. When officers to the apartment, they noted that she "appeared to be in a sound sleep, was not dressed, disoriented and seemed to be intoxicated," according to the arrest report. They added that she became "uncooperative" and requested her attorney.
The girl told investigators that she and her mother had gone to a bonfire and she fell asleep on the way home. According to police, the girl said when she woke up, she found herself alone in the vehicle and unable to unbuckle herself from the car seat. She told the officers that she was scared and hungry, and started screaming for help.
The girl noted a woman got out of her car and after hearing the screams showed her how to get out of the vehicle.
Officers on the scene noted that the car was improperly parked and there was an empty bottle of wine located on the floorboard in the back seat, according to the arrest report. They also found passenger side window, closest to the car seat, was partially lowered.
Vincent was taken into custody and charged with child neglect without bodily harm
During a hearing on Tuesday, a judge set her bond at $2,500 and ordered her to stay away from her daughter who is now staying with her father and an aunt.
