Hot car mom: Samar Mansour Mari, 31, is accused of leaving her 2-year-old daughter alone in a sweltering car in California while she was shopping
A California mother was arrested on child cruelty charges after police say she left her two-year-old daughter locked in a hot car outside a department store.
Officers with the Ontario Police Department were called to the parking lot outside the Target store in the 4200 block of East 4th Street just after 6.15pm Tuesday after getting calls about a child sitting alone in a car.
Bystanders Guadalupe Paz and her husband, Luis, reported that the vehicle’s engine was off and the windows were slightly open.
Temperatures in Ontario reached 106 degree on Tuesday amid an ongoing heat wave in Southern California, according to the National Weather Service.
Mrs Paz told CBS Los Angeles she managed to get the girl’s attention and then attempted to break a window in the car, but failed.
Rescued: A police officer is holding Mari’s daughter after extracting her from the backseat Tuesday, when temperatures reached 106 degree in Ontario, California
Minutes later, officers responded and rescued the toddler from the backseat, where she had been buckled into her car seat.
The victim, who was described as sweating profusely and in distress, was taken to a hospital for a check-up and then released into the temporary custody of Child Protective Services, reported KTLA5.
When the girl’s mother, 31-year-old Samar Mansour Mari, emerged from the store and returned to her car, she was arrested by police.
Nabbed: When Mari emerged from the Target store and returned to her car, she was arrested by police (pictured)
Mari reportedly claimed that she had left her daughter in the car for 15 minutes so she could buy something at the store.
She was later booked into the West Valley Detention Center on one count of cruelty to a child.