Child Left in Freezing Car

January 13, 2003
Anita Malichi/Eyewitness News
WTHR Channel 13
Indianapolis, IN



Indianapolis, Jan. 13 - A baby boy left alone in an unlocked car Saturday parked in the lot between a flea market and a Dairy Queen in the 6200 block of East Washington Street.

Crystal Hone called police after a boy, perhaps 12 or 13-years-old, walked into the fast food restaurant and told her.

The boy told Crystal in the Dairy Queen that he and his mother left the flea market and walked through the parking lot, past the car and saw the baby. They continued into the Marsh and went grocery shopping for about a half-hour to an hour. When they left and walked back toward the Dairy Queen, the baby was still in the car.

"As soon as he told us, we called 911. They had time to take the baby out of the car and the EMT and fire department was already here.

Then, Hone says, Chanda Lewis showed up looking for her baby Jaylen. "I'm saying about 10 to 15 minutes later she had to come, because they had time enough to get everybody here, she showed up."

Doctors at Wishard Hospital examined 14-month-old Jaylen. Police say he's now in good condition.

But doctors want caregivers to know how vulnerable small children are to the cold. "They lose heat quicker," says Dr. Philip Merk, Director of Wishard Pediatrics. "They don't have methods for producing heat so they're going to become more hypothermic more rapidly."

Lewis now faces a neglect charge. She told police she left him for only five minutes.

Hone says that when Lewis returned she had bags with her as if shopping at the flea market. Her eight-year-old daughter was with her. Police say both children are now with their grandmother.

Lewis is in jail.