This red Mitsubishi is the car in which police found the 7-month -old baby girl of Ozone Park resident Robert Brown, after he left her locked in the car on Cross Bay Blvd and Pitkin Ave to do a load of wash on Sunday afternoon. Forum Newsgroup photo by Robert Stridiron.
An unattended 7-month-old baby girl was taken to Jamaica Hospital for observation on Sunday afternoon after she was discovered in the back seat of a car and crying and strapped into her car seat.
Police say Robert Brown, 32, of Ozone Park, was out with his daughter when he parked his Red Mitsubishi Galant on Cross Bay Blvd. outside a laundromat near Pitkin Avenue. Brown left his daughter in the back seat with the windows rolled up and the air conditioner off. Published reports say a fan was left on inside the vehicle.
It was around 2:30 and temperatures were in the mid-high 80’s when police say a customer noticed the baby alone in the car, crying. When the customer went into the laundromat asking about the baby, someone called 9-1-1 right away and according to an employee, police showed up at the scene almost immediately.
The owner of the business, who asked not to be identified by name, said he knew little more than that Brown was in his store doing some wash one minute and quickly after the police were there to arrest him.
Officers from the 106 Precinct led Brown away in handcuffs from the scene. He was later charged with endangering the welfare of a child in a complaint issued by Queens District Attorney Richard Brown’s office.
The baby was recovered from her car seat after a concerned observer noticed she was alone and crying out from the back of the car. Forum Newsgroup photo by Robert Stridiron.
Thankfully the child was not harmed in the incident considering experts say that the temperature in a car can rise more than 20 degrees within 10 minutes when a vehicle is left in the sun. Every year, according to research polls in California, nearly 40 children die of heat stroke under similar circumstances.
The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) had not released information as to where the child is now as of press time. Efforts to reach someone at the Brown house for comment were unsuccessful.
By Patricia Adams
