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Baby Left in Car While Mom Shopped, Cops Say

1-year-old was in car seat outside Marshalls for about 45 minutes, according to police report.

 

A Lebanon Township woman was arrested for endangering the welfare of a child Friday afternoon, when police say she left her infant unattended in a locked car for nearly an hour.

Hackettstown Police responded to Marshalls department store parking lot at about 2:30 p.m. Friday and saw a child in a car seat alone with the doors locked, windows closed and the vehicle turned off, Sgt. Darren Tynan said.

Irene-Susanne Hall, 31, was found and identified as the owner of the vehicle and mother of the 1-year-old child, Tynan said. Hall allegedly left the infant alone in the car for approximately 45 minutes, Tynan said.

Hall was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and posted the $25,000 bail, Tynan said.

For questions about this post, email jason.koestenblatt@patch.com.

Related Topics: Hackettstown Police

Liberty

9:22 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Absolutely stupid! And who knows how many times she did the same thing without getting caught. How very lucky for that child that it was a relatively mild temperature.
I was at Mammoth Caves, KY in the middle of summer when a couple left their 3 mo. old baby in the car for 3 hrs while they toured the caves. The baby was sleeping so they thought he was fine---he died. Stupid.....

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Jersey

10:05 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Wow. I tend to not like to jump to conclusions when stories like this come out... For instance, you hate to think that you'd be arrested b/c you left a child in a locked car for a minute to run in to drop off dry cleaning, something like that. But leaving an infant in a car for almost an hour to go shopping at Marshall's? I can't even fathom...

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Tara

1:02 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Im left dumb founded over this. This mother is a piece of crap!

Abraham Clark

1:51 am on Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Is it ok if she's shopping at Lord and Taylors??

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A J PolHemus El

1:23 pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2013

this is so stupid
what adult would ever appreciate bwing treated in this manner ?

why ?
how so you justicy this style/type of continous simpleness ?
tell Me division of youth and family service will get involved in this matter ? !!!

h

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Rosie

11:00 am on Saturday, January 12, 2013

Put her in jail!!!! She does not deserve to even have a child. She has neglected that child and this is abuse.

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LVMom

7:43 pm on Saturday, January 12, 2013

NOT EVEN FOR A MINUTE FOLKS... it's all it takes...
the car can be stolen, hit, the child can need medical attention, or a million other things any child strapped into a car (even a sleeping teen) should not be left alone in a vehicle. Yes, we live in a fairly 'safe' area...but this is a crazy world and we are here, as parents, to protect our children however we can.'

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Dee Buli

12:55 pm on Monday, January 14, 2013

Most people wouldn't leave their purse in their car. Nor would they leave it in a shopping cart to get an item down the aisle. So why do they leave their most precious possessions, their children?

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Erin McGowan Sassaman

11:47 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013

She's an amazing mother. I've known her for 2+ years. The issue is cultural differences. Go to Europe. They aren't nearly as uptight as Americans. In fact, most people aged 40 years or over on this board likely had a mom who did the exact same thing to them as children. So FYI, you are jumping to conclusions, she's not a piece of crap, and she does deserve to have children. Calm the F down everyone. You call this abuse? Neglect? Work for child services for half a minute and you would be asking Irene to adopt as many kids as possible for all the love and attention at gives her son. He's beautiful and he was at my home this afternoon, being lovingly attended to by his "neglectful" mother. Ethnocentrism. Look it up.

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Lucretia G.

8:34 am on Monday, February 4, 2013

Well, she’s in America now. And however strange it might sound, she’d do well to take the words “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” to heart.

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Liberty

11:43 am on Monday, February 4, 2013

Using ethnocentricy to justify this is a bit extreme, and a cop-out. However stupidly Europeans behave concerning their children has no bearing here: it's against the law and this is America! Considering the number of children abducted every day, parents need to be vigilant, which is degrees away from "uptight." Are you an American? Would you leave your 1 yr. old alone in a car for 45 mins?

Erin McGowan Sassaman

9:00 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013

Do you know every law there is in America!? I bring up the ethnocentricity point to merely point out that what is "normal" in one country (ie. riding a motorcycle with a baby in the arms of the person on the back, something I've often seen in Europe) could be considered weird or unacceptable elsewhere. Not sure how that's "extreme". If something is normal in one's own culture, I doubt it would be something that even crossed her mind as being inappropriate. I'm not saying it wasn't dumb nor would I ever do it, but the fact is that her realization of the severity is very real. Lots of new moms make all kinds of mistakes all the time. Luckily, most of the time, it's not in public. This is one of them. The worst thing for her child though would be to deny her access to her own son!

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Liberty

10:16 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013

She probably took the time to learn how to get a driver's license, buy a car, open a bank acct., learn English, etc. She has a child, is a foreigner, but doesn't bother to learn what local laws there may be regarding child safety/welfare? If you want to play the culture card, then she needs to learn the local culture. Riding a motorcycle with a baby in the arms of the rear passenger is extreme, so is leaving a baby in a car, alone, for almost an hour! Forget the law, it's common sense!

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