Oklahoma Mother Facing Charges After Baby Left In Hot Car In Walmart Parking Lot

A Talala, Oklahoma, mother is in hot water for allegedly leaving her 1-year-old in a hot vehicle for nearly an hour while she shopped at a local Walmart. According to KJHR, Hannah Victoria Secondi was arrested by the Owasso Police Department after two witnesses — Chrysty Lansdowne and Jedidiah Bizzell — discovered the toddler inside the car. “We walked past the van and it didn’t quite sit right with me,” Lansdowne recalled. “I just said to Jay, ‘What was that sound?’ ”

Luckily, the witnesses were well aware of their surroundings, because they also admitted the toddler’s plea for help was relatively faint. When they peered into the tinted window of the van, they discovered the exhausted toddler, who was sweating profusely, locked inside the car. But surprisingly, she wasn’t crying despite the blazing temperatures. “You imagine the baby is crying in the car because it is so hot, she wasn’t crying at all,” she said.

They immediately contacted first responders, who rushed to the scene to remove the baby from the vehicle. According to court documents, the toddler had been locked inside the vehicle for more than 45 minutes and firefighters stated that the vehicle had “reached internal temperatures of 120 to 138 degrees,” reports Tulsa World.

When Secondi walked out of the store and noticed first responders were at the scene, she reportedly “began frantically asking if her child was deceased.” Luckily, the child was fortunate enough to be rescued, as some children have not been so lucky this summer.

The child was transported to St. John Medical Center in Owasso, Oklahoma, for a medical evaluation. It has been reported that the baby did not suffer any injuries, and that she has been released to her father. However, Secondi was booked into the Tulsa jail on a $50,000 bond. She has been charged with child abuse and is scheduled to appear in court on August 4.

[Image via Owasso Police Department]