Local News in Brief : Mother of Child Left in Hot Car Charged
A mother who went shopping and left her 4-year-old daughter in a locked car where the temperature soared to 120 degrees was charged with criminal child-endangering, authorities said Friday.
Marlene Lopez Quintero, 23, left the girl in the car parked curbside on Vermont Avenue in the Wilshire District on Tuesday, and the girl might have died if a parking control officer hadn’t noticed the expired traffic meter, officials said.
“It was extremely fortunate that the expired meter attracted the officer’s attention to the car,” City Atty. James K. Hahn said. “The child already had passed out.”
Police pried open the sun roof of the car to rescue the girl, who regained consciousness after she was placed in the shade to wait for paramedics, said Deputy City Atty. Elizabeth Gertz. City attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls said both the girl and a younger brother have been placed in foster homes.
Quintero faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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