Mother arrested after infant found in hot car and hospitalized, police say
Jun 5, 2025, 10:53 AM | Updated: 1:20 pm
Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City is pictured on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Photo credit: Kristin Murphy/Deseret News.
SOUTH SALT LAKE — A woman was taken into custody on accusations of child abuse after a bystander saw her infant crying in a hot car on Wednesday, police said. The child was taken to the hospital.
Det. Ryan Alvarez with the South Salt Lake Police Department said the infant, under 1 year old, was left in a car for more than an hour and a half. He said the car was off, so the air conditioning was not running.
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“Though the windows were open slightly, the inside of the car was around 100 degrees due to the strong afternoon sun. The infant was taken to Primary Children’s Hospital,” Alvarez said.
Security footage showed the mother arrive at CSL Plasma Center in South Salt Lake at about 3:45 p.m., according to police documents.
“At (5:23 p.m.), another patron of the Plasma Center parks next to (the) vehicle and hears the child crying. The patron notifies the staff at the Plasma Center who contacts emergency personnel,” documents said.
Shortly after that, the mother returned to her car and opened the door — one hour and 48 minutes after arriving at the plasma center.
Alvarez told Midday with Maria Shilaos that surveillance video showed the mother checking on the infant twice while she was donating, “but did so by looking through the window and did not open the door, which would have allowed the inside of the vehicle to cool off a little and for her to check the temperature of the vehicle.”
Documents said officers were dispatched to the area at approximately 5:30 p.m.
The air temperature outside was 78 degrees, but after the car was left in direct sunlight for a long period of time, the interior temperature climbed to 100 degrees even though the windows were left slightly open. Documents said medical personnel found the infant’s temperature to be 101 degrees when they got there.
“Even though we may think it’s a cool day, it may actually be significantly warmer in a vehicle,” Alvarez said.
The mother was taken to the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of child abuse and reckless endangerment.
Alvarez advised parents not to leave their children in a car.
“We are glad that this situation was not a tragic one that ended in death, but we do ask the public to keep an eye out for it because we want to respond and protect life.”
