Mom arrested for leaving child in hot car - KPTV - FOX 12
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A mom is arrested after police said she left her one year old little girl inside a hot pickup outside the Kaiser Permanente in Gresham.
Police arrested Gabidey Onofre after a passer-by found her little girl inside the pickup truck around 5 Friday evening.
Several Good Samaritans spotted the little girl and jumped into action.
Onofre told Fox 12 that her little girl was sleeping when they got to the medical center and instead of taking her inside, she ran into the pharmacy to get some medication.
She said she was only gone for about five to 10 minutes.
It was a cracked window that drew a woman to the pickup outside the clinic.
That woman thought she was going to find a dog left alone inside, but instead, she found a little girl.
"I can't even imagine leaving my kid in the car and being in a place where you can't see what's going on, let alone be in a hot car," said Beth Salisbury, who lives in Gresham.
At first the woman said she wasn't sure if the girl was a doll or a real child because she was slouched over in the car seat.
Either way, she ran inside to get help.
Two others were able to force down the window and get the little girl out.
"I just think you need to be extra responsible when the temp is higher and you need more accountability," said Erika Salisbury, who lives in Gresham.
Experts say a few minutes is all it takes on hot days for temperatures inside a car to reach deadly levels.
"It can be dangerous pretty quickly and when it's as hot as it has been recently, even being outside for an hour can cause children to have early symptoms of heat injuries," said Lainie Yarris, an emergency physician at OHSU.
Witnesses who helped rescue the little girl said she looked confused and had shallow breathing.
Doctors at OHSU said kids are more prone to suffer from heated related injuries.
"Anytime the temps rises the risk is greater," Yarris said.
USA Today reports that eight children died in hot cars in the first week of August alone, in the United States.
That's believed to be the highest one-week total ever.
The little girl was checked out and then picked up by other family members.
Onofre is charged with child neglect and reckless endangerment.
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