Mom Left 8-Year-Old Snoozing in Parked Car While She Went to Hobby Lobby: Cops

JOLIET, IL — A Joliet mom left her 8-year-old sleeping in a car on a 81-degree day while she popped into Hobby Lobby, police said.

A passerby who called the cops said the child had been left in the car for at least 20 minutes, according to the police, but the mom, 48-year-old Thomasine Gunn, claimed it was more like five minutes. She also reportedly said she left the back windows down.

Officers called fire department paramedics to the scene because the child appeared groggy when they got to the parking lot of the North Larkin Avenue store about 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Gunn explained that the child was only groggy because they had just left the dentist’s office where two teeth had been pulled, according to police.

The passerby reportedly said she went into the Hobby Lobby and spent 20 minutes looking for the child’s mother before she called the law.

The police gave Gunn a ticket.