PEA RIDGE -- A mother told police she forgot her baby was in the back seat of her car Sunday because she didn't have her 4-year-old child with her, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Had the older child been in the car, Karlee Mae Spear told police, she would have remembered to get her four-month-old son out before going in to a Pea Ridge grocery store, according to the affidavit.
Spear, 21, and Ashlee Jean Danley, 26, both of Seligman, Mo., were arrested in connection with misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a minor, according to their jail booking information.
They have Sept. 10 court dates in Pea Ridge District Court. Bond was set at $2,000 each Tuesday.
Pea Ridge police went to the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 240 Slack St. about 2:20 p.m.
The infant had been locked in a black Nissan Xterra without running air conditioning. The infant appeared to be very hot. His skin was red, and he was sweating profusely and struggling to breathe, according to police. The outside temperature was about 95 degrees, according to the affidavit.
Nathaniel and Michelle Holt, a husband and wife of Washburn, Mo., were loading groceries into their car when they noticed a crowd around the Xterra, Michelle Holt told police. She and her husband broke the back window and got the baby out, according to police.
They undressed the baby and took him in the store to cool down. Paramedics took the child to Arkansas Children's Northwest in Springdale, according to the affidavit.
Spear told police she and Danley went to Pea Ridge to shop. She estimated they were in the store for about 30 minutes. She said she didn't realize she left the infant in the car until police found her. Her 4-year-old was home with his father, she said.
Danley, the baby's aunt, told police the reason why she didn't remember to get the infant out was because her four children were at their home in Missouri, and she didn't have children on her mind, according to the affidavit.
NW News on 08/14/2019