Two arrested after children left in cars

Will Oremus and Jen Lawson

Wednesday, July 23, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Two women were arrested on child endangerment charges Tuesday after an 11-month-old girl was left in a car while her mother shopped at the Fashion Show mall and a 6-year-old girl was left in a car on Third Street while her aunt attended a hearing at the Clark County Courthouse.

Metro Police spokeswoman Carla Alston said the women, Laterra Harris, 24, and Crystal Meacham, 23, respectively, of Las Vegas, were arrested on misdemeanor child endangerment charges.

Paramedics treated the 6-year-old for heat exhaustion, and the 11-month-old was "fine," Lisa Teele, supervisor of Metro's abuse and neglect unit, said.

Temperatures reached 106 Tuesday, but inside vehicles the temperature can be much higher, causing injury or death in children, according to medical professionals.

Alston said Harris was captured on surveillance cameras shopping inside Fashion Show mall on Las Vegas Boulevard South while her 11-month-old daughter sat in her car on the second floor of the parking garage. The engine was off, the doors were locked and the windows were rolled up.

A passer-by saw the child motionless in the car about 1:40 p.m.

"They knocked on the window and she didn't respond, and they became concerned," Teele said.

The passer-by broke the driver side window, pulled the baby out and called 911. The girl was in the car for about 30 minutes, Teele said.

According to the police report, Harris first told officers that she had a friend watching the baby while she was in the mall, but she later admitted this was false.

In the first incident, which occurred about 11:30 a.m., Meacham took her niece into the Clark County Courthouse on 321 S. Third St. to attend a hearing. The girl complained she was too cold, so Meacham brought her back out to the car, police said.

After about 20 minutes, she got out of the car, Teele said.

District Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer, who was on the scene, said the girl was beet red and sweating.

"The little girl said that she had stepped outside the car because she was too hot," Sommermeyer said.

She caught the attention of a passersby when she tried to make her way across Third Street to find her aunt.

"A citizen saw her attempting to cross the street into oncoming traffic and asked where her parents were, and she pointed to the courthouse," Teele said.

The citizen called 911. Paramedics gave her water to cool her down, Sommermeyer said.

Ann Rubin, assistant manager of the Clark County Department of Family Services, couldn't comment specifically as to whether the children had been returned to their families. But, she said, in cases such as these, the department would investigate whether the children would be safe before going home.

Meacham and Harris were being held this morning in the Clark County Detention Center. Bail for both women was set at $3,000, a jail spokeswoman said.

Metro has investigated 20 incidents of children being left in cars since May, Teele said.

"I think we just have to continue to get the word out to the community," she said. "Not only do we have to worry about the weather element, but then you have a 6-year-old child who becomes too hot and then she walks into oncoming traffic."

"We have to take responsibility as adults and care providers," Teele added. "We have to take responsibility for our children."

District Attorney David Roger, who saw paramedics on the scene in front of the courthouse when he went to lunch, agreed that parents and adults need to be more responsible.

"What concerns me is some parents just aren't getting the message. Children are our most precious gift, and people at times choose convenience over the safety of children," he said. "That bothers me.

"It seems to me with all the media attention that this issue is getting from the press, parents would be far more alert to the dangers of leaving children in cars," he said.

Roger said he couldn't comment on Tuesday's cases specifically because he has not received the police investigations. But he said his office would consider whether the adults willfully placed the children in harm's way when deciding whether to press charges of child endangerment.

"We haven't had any kidnapping situations, thankfully, but that is a potential situation. We have predators out there looking for children day in and day out. When you leave a defenseless child in a car, that puts that child at risk."