Valparaiso, Ind. — A Chicago woman was arrested for reportedly leaving her 14-month-old son alone in a car while shopping Wednesday afternoon.
A witness called police to the parking lot at Bethesda Resale Shop, 50 Marks Road, after sitting for more than 10 minutes next to a black 1998 Chevrolet Malibu with an unattended infant inside around 12:40 p.m., according to the police report.
The Chevy’s doors were locked and its windows were up, but the car was not parked in a way that a parent could be watching it from inside the store, the report noted. The child’s mother, Diamond McAlister, 34, returned about a minute after police arrived.
McAlister initially insisted she took the child, whose father lives in Valparaiso, inside shopping with her and only left him in the car when she stepped back inside to search for her missing remote start key fob.
However, police eventually learned McAlister had been shopping alone for about 15 to 20 minutes, according to witnesses, and while she apparently had started the car — and its heater — with her key fob after locking the vehicle, the engine automatically shut off at some point while she was gone.
She was arrested on a preliminary charge of felony neglect of a dependent.
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