PHOENIX — A Phoenix mother is being charged with felony child abuse after she allegedly left her four-month-old child in a car in her garage, putting the child in critical condition, court documents say.
According to court docs, Cristina Hernandez told police she had taken two of her children to school just before 8 a.m. on April 12 and brought three of her other children along as well. She returned home at 8:30 a.m. and took her 3-year-old and 9-year-old out of the car but was not aware she left her four-month-old in the car.
Court docs say Hernandez told police she took a nap until 11 a.m. and woke up and began cleaning the house still not realizing she had left her four-month-old in the car.
Around 1 p.m. that day, Hernandez told police her 9-year-old asked where the four-month-old was and Hernandez went out to the car to get the baby and brought the child inside and called 911. She told police the windows in the vehicle were down but the garage door was closed.
The four-month-old was unresponsive. Firefighters responded to the home and transported the four-month-old to Phoenix Children's Hospital. Court docs say the child's temperature was 104 degrees.
Police say the timeline provided by Hernandez was incorrect. According to court documents, a search warrant on her cell phone revealed she called her husband twice before noon that day and police say the husband admitted she had called about finding the four-month-old in the car. 911 wasn't called until 12:56 p.m.
Detectives later spoke with Hernandez who admitted she took her child out of the car around 11:30 a.m. and did not call 911 right away because she did not want her other children taken from her.
According to court documents, the child remains in critical condition and doctors say the child suffered heat stroke, but a long term diagnosis is not known at this time.
Hernandez was booked into jail on a $5,000 bond and charged with one count of felony child abuse.
