Police rescued a five-month-old baby who was left alone in a car in Dillon’s parking lot late Tuesday afternoon.
“The baby is healthy and still in protective custody,” said Winfield Police Chief Jerry DeVore. “Luckily, the baby hadn’t been exposed long enough to have trouble.”
A concerned citizen called police at 4:11 p.m. to report a baby was strapped in a car seat in a parked and unattended car.
“When officers first got there, the baby was crying. They got him into a patrol car which was air conditioned and the baby settled down,” DeVore said.
They were taking the child to the juvenile intake facility at the courthouse annex when the baby fell asleep, he said. Officers decided to request paramedics examine the baby.
The child was taken into protective custody and evaluated and treated at William Newton Hospital.
Joe Rosner, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Office in Wichita, said it was 92 degrees at Strother Field at 4 p.m. He could not estimate how much higher the temperature would have been inside a car, but DeVore said the windows were down.
“It was still not a good situation,” he said.
Sambria M. Shockley, 24, Winfield was arrested and jailed for endangering a child. She has since bonded out. Her first appearance in Cowley County District Court is scheduled for Sept. 10th.
Endangering a child is classified as an A misdemeanor and punishable by up to a year in the county jail and a $2,500 fine, according to Jim Spring, deputy county attorney.
“The main thing is, the child is okay,” DeVore said.
