NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – A Queens couple was arrested Tuesday after a baby was left in a hot car at a parking lot on Long Island, police said.
The 1-year-old boy was left in a Mercedes Benz for about an hour on Tuesday afternoon as his parents were inside a building at the Americana shopping complex on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset, according to Nassau County police.
A woman noticed the infant crying and sweating in the vehicle but was unable to open the door, so she called police.
A man also tried to gain entry to the vehicle using a lock-out kit but was also unsuccessful, police said.
When responding officers arrived, they found the boy in distress inside the Mercedes, which was not running at the time, according to police.
The officers broke a window and removed the boy from the vehicle. Police said the child was red in color and drenched in sweat.
The officers took the infant into a store with air-conditioning to cool him off, police said.
The boy was then transported to an area hospital for evaluation. He's expected to recover, police said.
Jingcai Zhou, 34, and Lu Lu, 28, were arrested and charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. They were set to be arraigned Wednesday in Hempstead.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran applauded the actions of the officers.
"Nassau PD officers are heroes yet again, and I'm relieved that they were alerted in time to rescue the child," Curran said in a statement. "It doesn't take a long time for a car to reach deadly hot temperatures on an 80 degree day, and it takes even less time for there to be risk of heat stroke for children. Never leave young children alone in cars – even for a quick errand – even with the window cracked – even if you think it’s not that warm. If you see a child alone in a hot car, the right thing to do is call 911 immediately.”
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