St. Martin Parish sheriff deputies arrested a Broussard, Louisiana mother after she allegedly left her two children, ages 1 and 5, unattended in a vehicle at a truck stop casino for about an hour and a half while she played video poker inside.
The vehicle was un unlocked and running. Major Ginny Higgins says thankfully the kids were not harmed.
“There could’ve been mechanical issues with the vehicle where it caught on fire. There could have been a situation where someone would have stolen the car and not known they were in there,” said Higgins.
37-year-old Tara Jackson is facing two counts of child desertion.
Although the weather was favorable yesterday, Higgins says sometimes there is a misconception that temps need to be in the 80s or 90s for something to happen to someone in a vehicle.
“With lower temperatures and sun beating down on a vehicle, the same situation could happen and unfortunately turn out to be deadly, so they should just never be left in a vehicle,” said Higgins.
The Good Samaritan law states that someone can bust open a window in an effort to save a child or animal trapped in a car, but Higgins says the person who spotted the children did the right thing by not taking that action because the doors were unlocked.
“They called authorities, they stayed with the kids until authorities got there, so they did the right thing. If you see a child in there, you know the first thing of course is to save their life,” said Higgins.