An Arkansas woman accused of leaving her toddlers alone in a hot vehicle Saturday was cited on two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, according to a report from Jonesboro police.
The 32-year-old mother was reportedly trying on clothes at Plato's Closet on Fair Park Boulevard when the store manager told her that the children were outside.
The temperature was 89 degrees and the heat index was 96 degrees, according to Jonesboro police officers who arrived around 5:25 p.m.
The mother told the officers she believed her children — listed as boys aged 1 and 2 — were getting ice cream with their father, adding that they couldn’t have been in the car for more than five minutes, according to the report.
One witness told police that the woman had been in the store for 30 minutes.
The children were reportedly red and sweating.
Officers contacted Child Protective services and gave the woman a court date of Oct. 18.
