CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A mother is accused of leaving her 3-year-old boy inside a car Wednesday afternoon at Northlake Mall as temperatures climbed into the mid-90s.
The air conditioning was not running in the car parked outside of Dillard’s, officials said.
“A lot of people don’t realize this, but heat actually kills more people than flooding, more people than tornadoes and hurricanes,” Channel 9 meteorologist Tony Sadiku said.
The child was able to get out of the car on his own, police said. A customer then brought the child into the mall just before 3 p.m., a mall spokesperson confirmed.
The security team immediately called police.
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“It makes me feel very good inside that somebody cared enough to do something about it and not just ignore it,” customer Wayne Robert Wadington said.
CMPD didn’t say how long the boy was inside the car unattended.
“Do you think there’s any reason to leave your child inside a vehicle like that?” customer Geneva Anglero said. “No, no.”
The child is fine, the mall spokesperson said.
“In 10 minutes inside a vehicle, it could already be 115 degrees,” Sadiku said. “Talk 20 minutes inside a vehicle, it can be 125 degrees. And about 30, a vehicle where it’s 95 degrees outside, now you’re talking about temperatures 130 degrees and above.”
He said a heat stroke could sink in and quickly kill someone.
The mother was cited for misdemeanor child neglect.