Man Charged with Leaving 2-Year-Old in Car in Cold Weather

A two-year-old boy was left in an unlocked car in the parking lot of a Darien doctor’s office — for 30 minutes in 20-degree weather — when the boy’s step-father brought an ailing infant into the office, Darien police said.

Police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the matter:

On Friday, Feb. 6, a concerned citizen told an employee at Darien Pediatrics that a child was left in a car in the parking lot. A nurse went out to make sure the child wasn’t harmed, and waited 30 minutes in the cold before trying the door and realizing the vehicle was unlocked. She took the child inside.

When the child was brought inside, Ariosto Borja,37, of Brightwood Avenue in Torrington, said he was the child’s step-father and had forgotten about him when he brought the infant in the office. A doctor immediately attended to the infant, Borja said.

Police issued Borja a misdemeanor summons charging him with leaving a child unsupervised in a motor vehicle and operation of a motor vehicle without a license. The children’s mother arrived at Darien Police Headquarters at 7 p.m. and drove everyone home. Borja is scheduled to appear Feb. 17 in state Superior Court in Stamford.