A woman from Brockton could face a criminal charge after police say she left her 22-month-old alone in a parked car while she shopped at a Hingham mall on Monday, leading to passersby climbing into the car to rescue the child.
Police were called to 94 Derby St. around 2:30 p.m. Monday by a couple who parked next to the car where the child was still inside. The car’s sunroof was open, but the engine was off and the windows were up, Hingham Police said in a statement posted to Facebook.
The couple then climbed into the car via the sunroof to rescue the screaming child, police said.
When police arrived at the Whole Foods parking lot, they found the child “hot and profusely sweating,” police said.
Officers determined the child’s mother had last checked on the car 20 minutes earlier before returning to shop — 94 Derby St. is the address for the Derby Street Shops mall in Hingham, police said.
Police put the child in the front seat of an air-conditioned cruiser until paramedics arrived and took the child into an ambulance. When the mother returned to the car, she told police the child was napping and she had been checking on them in between shopping at several stores, police said.
The child was eventually taken to South Shore Hospital, police said.
An application for a criminal complaint was filed in Hingham District Court against the 44-year-old mother, seeking to charge her with reckless endangerment of a child. The woman’s name was not released because she has not yet been formally charged, police said.
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