Woman Left 18-Month-Old Baby In Car In 90-Degree Temps As She Donated Plasma, Sheriff Says

A South Carolina woman is accused of leaving her baby locked in a hot car for over around an hour and a half as temperatures reached into the 90s, authorities said.

Around 1:30 p.m. on May 27, Richland County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to reports of the child in a car with the windows rolled up outside a plasma donation center in Columbia, WIS reported.

Deputies smashed one of the car’s windows to rescue the 18-month-old, who investigators said was “in distress, sweating and crying."

According to a witness, the toddler’s mother, Elizabeth Newcomb, 22, was seen at the plasma donation center leaving her vehicle around noon and going inside.

The witness, WIS reported, called 911 after realizing Newcomb left her baby in the car — which the mother allegedly later admitted to deputies was intentional.

The toddler was placed in the custody of the Department of Social Services, and the mother faces a charge of unlawful conduct towards a child.

“This case does not involve an absent-minded parent forgetting their child,” Sheriff Leon Lott said. “A mother chose to leave her 18-month-old in a vehicle, unattended in 90-degree weather. Let me be clear, if you chose to make the same choice this mother did, you will be arrested.”