MILLBURY, Mass. — A local mom is answering to charges that she left her baby inside a locked car at a shopping center.
Police say the mother ran out of a store at a Millbury mall Sunday afternoon just as officers were about to smash her window to rescue her 15-month-old.
That mom was in a Worcester court on Monday evening. She'll return to court in October.
On Monday, 38-year-old Sheila Parslow didn't have much to say in her first court appearance after police say she left her 15-month-old alone in a car at The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury.
Police say someone shopping at the mall around noon Sunday noticed the sleeping child inside the car with the doors locked and the windows rolled up. The car was parked in direct sunlight, police say. The temperature outside was 70 degrees.
Related: 74-year-old woman killed in grandson's shootout in Mattapan
When police showed up and noticed the sleeping child, they say officers were seconds away from smashing the window when the mom ran out from one of the stores. Police say they put their tools away and asked Parslow to unlock the door.
Local police say the child was in the car alone for almost 45 minutes, but paramedics checked the kid out at the scene and determined they did not need to transport the baby to the hospital.
Parslow now faces charges of reckless endangerment of a child and possession of the drug Oxycodone. Police gave custody of the child to another family member who came to the scene.
Officials also added that when the mother came running out of the mall that they noticed her pupils were shrunk and that she seemed oblivious to the dangers of leaving her kid in the car with the windows up and the doors locked.
The Department of Children & Families is also now looking into this case
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
