GREENWOOD — A Greenwood woman is facing child neglect charges after prosecutors say she left a child inside a car for nearly an hour during high temperatures.
Ivory Patton, 29, is charged with neglect of a dependent where the defendant places the dependent in a situation that endangers them, a Level 6 felony. She was formally charged Wednesday in Johnson Superior Court 2.
Greenwood Police were called to Walmart, 882 S. State Road 135, on the afternoon of June 21 to perform a welfare check. Dispatchers told officers that there was a sport-utility vehicle parked in the parking lot with an approximately 6-year-old child inside. The SUV was not running, the windows appeared to not be cracked, and the child appeared to be in tears, according to a probable cause affidavit.
It was 91 degrees outside at the time of police responding, the affidavit says. Temperatures inside cars can rise very quickly in the heat, and the temperature inside the car could have reached nearly 120 degrees in about 20 minutes.
When officers arrived, they observed the child — who was “sweating profusely” — sitting in the front passenger seat. While the initial report said the windows weren’t cracked, the passenger side window was cracked by about 3 inches. The officer was able to unlock the car, take the child out, and place them in their patrol car to get cooled off, the affidavit says.
The 911 caller told people they first saw the child in the car around 1:35 p.m. that day when they went inside Walmart to shop. When they returned to their vehicle about 30 minutes later at 2:02 p.m., they called 911 because the child was still in the car. The caller also said they saw the child pour water over their head at one point to stay cool, according to the affidavit.
Medics later checked out the child and said she was in good condition. A relative later picked the child up, the affidavit says.
Patton reportedly returned to the vehicle at 2:22 p.m., where she was arrested. She told police she thought she was only in Walmart for about 10 minutes.
Patton went on to tell police she had been at the nearby Kroger before driving directly to Walmart. She provided a Kroger receipt which showed her checking out at 1:24 p.m. and told police it was an approximately 5 to 10 minute drive to Walmart. She also provided a copy of a Walmart receipt that had a check-out time of 2:22 p.m., according to the affidavit.
Police say Patton also told them she knew it wasn’t a good idea to leave the child in the SUV while she was in the store.
Security footage was later obtained from Walmart, which showed Patton leaving the SUV at 1:38 p.m. and returning at 2:22 p.m. — about 44 minutes later, the affidavit shows.
The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t see a lot of cases like this, said Lance Hamner, prosecutor.
“I think most people know that it’s not appropriate to leave kids, most children alone in vehicles,” Hamner said.
First responders often encourage people not to leave children in a hot car because of how quickly a child’s body temperature rises in comparison to adults, and because it can be deadly. A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In the heat of summer, it’s not uncommon for children, who can overheat a lot faster than adults, to be put in a situation where a medical emergency can occur, such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion, Hamner said. Additionally, small children should never be left alone.
“Small children shouldn’t be left alone because they could be at risk from criminals who prey on children,” Hamner said. “Those things are pretty much common sense. We don’t usually see people putting their kids at risk, but from time to time we do.”
First responders, along with the NHTSA, encourage the public to remember one phrase: Stop. Look. Lock. Coined by the NHTSA, the campaign is meant to educate parents about the dangers of heatstroke and to always check locked vehicles before leaving.
