Hot Car Arrest At Kohl's: Temps Were In High 80s

CANTON, MI — A 37-year-old Canton woman has been charged with child neglect after leaving her two sons in her car Saturday while shopping at Kohl’s when temperatures were around 88 degrees, according to township police reports. The boys, ages 4 and 5, were sweating but didn’t appear harmed after about 20 minutes in the car, the Canton Observer reported.

Police were alerted to the children in the hot car at about 8 p.m. and responded to the department store, which sits on Ford Road just west of Sheldon Road. Canton Police Officers confronted the woman as she walked back to her Acura MDX, the Observer reported.

The woman told police her sons were tired after an earlier shopping trip and that she thought she would only be in Kohl’s for a few minutes because she was just returning merchandise. But the return took longer than she anticipated, reports said.

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Officers issued her the ticket and the Canton woman will now have to appear at the 35th District Court in Plymouth. Leaving a child in a hot car is dangerous and against the law.

Michigan State Police recently told WJRT-TV in Flint that when temperatures are just 70 degrees outside, temperatures inside a car can reach 104 degrees in about 30 minutes. It’s illegal to leave a child under the age of 6 unattended in a car, regardless of weather conditions. Troopers advise the public to call 911 if the spot a young, unattended child in a car.

"We live in a society when anything can happen at any point in time. We've seen kidnappings and carjackings; people don't even know the kid is in there, people go to steal the car and the kid happens to be in the car so error on the side of safety and on the side of caution every time and we won't have any issues," Steve Kramer with the Michigan State Police told WJRT-TV.

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