A New Canaan mother was arrested after she allegedly left her 11-week-old baby inside a hot car for near 50 minutes while she ran errands, according to police.
According to the arrest warrant, 34-year-old Kathryn Ferguson called 911 on July 18 reporting that she’d left her child inside the car for about 10 minutes while she ran errands, and now the child was crying.
Police and an EMT responded to 81 Elm Street and found Ferguson sitting in her car holding the child in her arms. According to the warrant, Ferguson told police that she had left the child alone in the car for around 10 minutes while she purchased shoes and a drink from two nearby businesses. Later at the hospital, Ferguson told a social worker that she forgot the child because the baby had been asleep and quiet in the back seat, the warrant states.
The child was evaluated at Norwalk Hospital and medically cleared, and hospital staff notified the Department of Children and Families of the incident.
Through review of surveillance video and based on time-stamped receipts, police determined that the child had actually been alone inside the car from around 3:18 p.m. to around 4:06 p.m. – around 48 minutes. The temperature outside that day was about 85 degrees.
Police obtained an arrest warrant charging Ferguson with risk of injury to a child. She turned herself into police on Friday.
Ferguson was released on a $20,000 bond and is due in court on Aug. 22, 2017.
