E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to The Post

By Maureen O'Hagan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 24, 2001; Page B07

A Prince Frederick couple sat in an air-conditioned courtroom for nearly 45 minutes yesterday while their 9-month-old twins remained strapped into their safety seats in a sweltering car in the courthouse parking lot, according to Howard County police.

Kimberly Walton, 38, and Darrell Holliday, 36, were later arrested and charged with child neglect and reckless endangerment. Both were released last night: she on a $2,500 unsecured bond, he on a $5,000 unsecured bond.

The children were reported in good condition at Howard County General Hospital.

The couple arrived about 8:45 a.m. at the county Circuit Court, where Holliday was to face a charge that he stole about $100 worth of fresh fish from an Elkridge supermarket, according to Assistant State's Attorney David Lank.

After checking in, Holliday took a seat in a long line of criminal defendants, and Walton waited with him, said Howard County Officer Doug Catherman.

Outside, their infant daughters sat in the family's Chevy Celebrity, authorities said. Windows were open about an inch, and the girls had been left with bottles of milk, authorities said.

The baby girls, red-faced and sweaty, were pulled from the car about 9:30 a.m. by police and sheriff's deputies. Officers pried open a window to unlock the doors, according to police.

"Those kids are so lucky," said Dennis Cunningham, a doctor in the pediatric emergency room at University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. "It can get so hot inside that car, and the body isn't made to function in that temperature."

Cunningham said high temperatures can cause brain damage, seizures and even death. According to the National Safe Kids Campaign, which is affiliated with Children's Hospital, when the outside temperature is 93 degrees, the temperature inside a car can reach 125 degrees in 20 minutes. By about 9 a.m. yesterday, the temperature was above 80 degrees, on its way to a high of about 90.

Howard Detective Bill Porter found the children in the car, which happened to be parked next to his pickup truck in a corner of the parking lot where there is little traffic.

Catherman said that just after the rescue, he saw Walton hurrying toward the car. "She said she only had left them to go inside to the bathroom," he said. But the officer added, "I sat with her in court all morning."

Walton and Holliday remained expressionless as they watched police officers mopping their babies' brows.

Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said the infants would be placed in temporary custody as soon as arrangements were made through the Department of Social Services.