Tipora Merriex, Lake City, Utah mom arrested leaving toddler daughter in 94F hot car so she could watch Smurfs movie undisturbed after 2 year old started crying inside movie theater.
An 18-year-old Utah mother is accused of locking her 2 year old daughter in a sweltering hot car so she could watch the ‘Smurfs’ movie at a nearby theater undisturbed, according to local police.
Tipora Merriex is alleged to have pulled her crying daughter out of a showing of “Smurfs” at the Regal Cinema in Lake City, Utah, on Saturday circa 6 p.m and placed her in a 2002 Cadillac Escalade after failing to console the crying toddler according to CBS47.
After having locked the doors of the vehicle, the mother returned to the movie screening.
What would Pappa Smurf say?
Temperatures reached 94 degrees with a heat index of 107 degrees Saturday in Utah, the Lake City Police Department said in a statement.
Responding police officers broke through a window of the Cadillac and found the child was ‘sweating profusely and was crying in distress,’ the statement added.
The two year old girl was taken to Lake City Medical Center for treatment, Action News Jax reported.
Upon the girl’s mom emerging from the cinema, Merriex attempted to brush off the episode, with the parent observed behaving ‘very nonchalant,’ and ‘acting as though the whole situation wasn’t a big deal as she just stood next to her vehicle,’ the police report stated.
Yes kids, what would Pappa Smurf say…?
The mother claimed to have simply forgotten her young daughter in the car momentarily — only for witnesses to offer a contrasting set of event timeline.
Merriex, who attended the movie with her younger brother and sister, purposefully put the child in the sweltering SUV and periodically checked on the kid as the movie played, according to a witness cited by CBS47.
She even sent her siblings to check on her child while staying in the cool theater to watch “Smurfs,” a Regal Cinemas employee told the outlet.
Merriex was arrested and charged with felony child neglect and remains booked in Columbia County Jail on $50,000 bond, according to reports.
The 2-year-old child has recovered from what could have been a fatal incident and is doing OK, police said.
So far this year, at least 15 children have died after being left in hot cars in the US, according to the National Safety Council. An average of 37 children under the age of 15 die each year from heatstroke in vehicles.
