An 8-month-old girl in dirty clothing was in the backseat of a sport utility vehicle that initially didn't stop for authorities in Jacksonville, police said.
The girl's parents, Hector Morales, 44, and Brittany Morton, 25, both of Romance, are both facing a charge of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. Morales, the driver, is also charged with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, speeding and driving left of center.
According to a Jacksonville Police Department report, an officer spotted a speeding Chevrolet Tahoe about 5 p.m. Thursday and then followed it as it went left of center three times. The officer tried to pull the vehicle over on North First Street, but it "continued to travel north and refused to pull over" before turning onto John Harden Drive and going another quarter-mile at low speeds, the report said.
Once the vehicle was stopped, the officer spotted the couple's 8-month-old daughter in a car seat in the back "in a dirty diaper and ... dirty clothing," the report said.
"There were dirty diapers throughout the vehicle along with miscellaneous trash," police wrote. "Neither Morales or his wife ... knew when the last time the infant was fed."
The Department of Human Services took custody of the girl.
Morton and Morales remained in the Pulaski County jail Friday morning.