INDIANAPOLIS -
Metro Police arrested a tow truck driver and a mother for leaving her son in her car parked in a fire lane.
It's obvious why the seven-year-old boy's mother is in trouble. But police did not like what the tow truck driver did in this case, either.
Officers arrested the boy's mother, 28-year-old Robyn Hardy, for neglect of a dependent.
During their investigation officers also arrested the tow truck driver, 28-year-old Jason Gosset, for criminal recklessness.
"You have a responsibility as well to the people who have contracted you to perform this service. It is wrong to block the fire lane, number one. If you're gonna tow, you need to get out, hook it up properly, look into the car, kind of do an inventory and make sure that it's safe to tow the car," said Sgt. Linda Jackson, IMPD.
The boy's mother told police she went to the Family Dollar store on Lafayette Road, parked in the fire lane and went into the store. She left her seven-year-old son in the car.
Hardy says she was only in the store for five minutes, but officers talked to store clerks who said she was in the store for ten to 15 minutes.
The tow truck driver noticed a car parked in the fire lane, hooked up the car and left the parking lot with the car in tow. He then called dispatch saying he was back en route to the Family Dollar because he had found a child in the car.
When he got back to the store, officers questioned him and eventually put him in handcuffs.
Officers criticized the tow truck driver for failing to secure the car before towing. Police say the car could have detached and resulted in a crash, injuring the boy inside.
