Mom Left Baby Alone While Driving Wrong Way After Retrieving Illegally Parked Car: Cops

JOLIET, IL — The baby was alone, the car had been illegally parked in a handicap spot, and mom was driving the wrong way down a one-way street, police said.

A police captain reportedly spotted 25-year-old Shada Hardy driving east on the westbound-only stretch of Western Avenue shortly after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The captain pulled Hardy over on Bluff Street and she lied about her name, police said, using her sister’s instead of her own.

Hardy reportedly then explained that she had to get her 15-month-old son from her sister’s home on Bluff, first admitting the baby was alone and then claiming the child was with her sister.

When the captain and Hardy went inside the Bluff Street apartment, it turned out the child was actually left by himself, police said.

Hardy told the captain that she had left her son at the apartment for only about 15 or 20 minutes so she could retrieve her car, police said, which had been illegally parked in a handicap spot on Broadway.

Hardy was arrested on a charge of endangering the life or health of a child.

The police reportedly called the Department of Children and Family Services and Hardy’s son was taken into protective custody.

Hardy was released on her own recognizance.

image via Will County Sheriff's Department