ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A woman is facing criminal charges after St. Pete police said a toddler was left in a hot car for nearly half an hour Sunday.
“These are child abuse charges,” said Yolanda Fernandez, spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department. “These are very serious charges, very serious for her to have to deal with this. Even though she claims that she didn’t mean to do it, that she thought she was just going to run in and out, pick up the food delivery and go.”
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Arrest documents show that on Sunday, at around 3:30 p.m., Ly Thien Pham went into a restaurant to pick up an Uber Eats order. When she left the establishment, she said she forgot where her car was parked. It wasn’t until law enforcement showed up that the vehicle and the 1-year-old boy inside it were found — nearly 30 minutes later.
“A child’s temperature can rise three to five times quicker than an adult, and the inside temperature of a car can rise up to 20 degrees higher than what the ambient temperature is,” said Albert Madruga, firefighter and paramedic for St. Petersburg Fire Rescue…