By Richard Gootee
Evansville Courier & Press
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The 4-month-old baby rescued from a hot car Monday afternoon was inside the vehicle for about two-and-a-half hours, police estimate. That information came from the probable cause affidavit filed against the child’s mother, 35-year-old Kelly J. Decorrevont.
Decorrevont was arrested and preliminarily charged with child neglect by endangerment after someone called 911 just after 4:45 p.m. to report an infant was inside a car that was parked in the parking lot of the West Side Walmart.
Evansville Police Department officers had to break the vehicle’s windows to get the child. Officers wrote that the baby boy was “sweating profusely” and crying and that the windows were rolled up and the doors locked
The baby boy was then taken by ambulance to Deaconess Hospital. A hospital spokeswoman had no public information on the infant available on Tuesday morning, including whether the child was still in hospital care. Officers noted that the Department of Child Services is also investigating the case.
Video of officers saving the child surfaced on social media later Monday evening and were shared with a local television news outlet. The Evansville Police Department’s official account shared a news story about the incident on Twitter and added a note that read “This. Is. Never. Acceptable.”
According to the affidavit, Decorrevont claimed that she was unaware that the child was in the car and told officers that her older daughter, identified as a teenager, must have put the child in the car without her knowledge. Decorrevont said she dropped off her older child before going to Walmart.
In the affidavit, investigators wrote that, “Decorrevont did not seem very remorseful” about the incident.
A Walmart employee reviewed surveillance footage for police and reportedly told investigators that it appeared Decorrevont arrived at the store around 2:15 p.m., meaning the child was left inside the car for about two and half hours.
On Tuesday, Evansville Police Department Sgt. Jason Cullum reminded parents and others that young children should never be left unattended inside a car.
“There’s never a time -- I don’t care if it’s 80 degrees or 50 degrees or 20 degrees -- there’s never a time that you can leave an infant in a vehicle unattended like we saw (on Monday),” Cullum said. “The issue was magnified because it was 87 degrees ... This wasn’t like a quick pit stop at a gas station. ... This is someone who went into Walmart and was in there for a really long time.”
During 2017’s first stretch of 90-degree days earlier this month, both law enforcement and the National Weather Service stressed the importance of not leaving children and pets in hot vehicles.
Decorrevont also faces the preliminary marijuana possession charge because police reported finding a burnt marijuana cigarette in a portable ash tray in her purse during the investigation.
Copyright Evansville Courier & Press
This. Is. Never. Acceptable. https://t.co/rZMkieaSQJ
— Evansville Police (@EvansvillePD) June 20, 2017