Walmart didn’t announce her name over the store intercom, but one Olney mother got the attention of plenty of shoppers on Aug. 26 when she allegedly left her year-old daughter alone inside a locked and sun-baked car for a half-hour or more.
According to broadcast reports, witnesses in the Northeast store’s parking lot, at 9745 Roosevelt Blvd., heard the baby’s screams at about 5:30 p.m. and surrounded the car. Some alerted employees and called 911, while others tried to break into the burgundy Nissan Sentra to free the child. Outside temperatures were in the mid-80s at the time.
After police arrived, Jasmine Ingram, 24, of the 100 block of E. Godfrey Ave., returned to the car and reportedly locked herself inside with the baby. The woman eventually released the child, then herself as witnesses described the episode to the assembled news media.
One observer reported that the child’s father had left Ingram to watch the girl. Soon after the father entered the store, however, Ingram abandoned the child and entered the store, too, the witness said.
Authorities took the girl to an area hospital for evaluation. She was uninjured. Special Victims Unit detectives questioned Ingram that evening. Two days later, the District Attorney’s Office charged Ingram with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment. She was released from custody on her own recognizance and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 1 in Family Court. ••
