Noblesville mother charged with neglect for leaving child - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Investigators say an 11-month-old child left in a hot car in a store parking lot was sweating profusely on the head, neck and back. The child's mother, 34 year old Pooja Thakkar, has officially been charged with neglect.

The police officer who found the baby inside the car said the child was in a car seat in the backseat with the car's back windows rolled halfway down. That's how the officer said he was able to unlock the back doors and get the baby out.

According to documents obtained by Eyewitness News charging Thakkar with neglect of a dependent, when a police officer got to the Bed Bath and Beyond at Hamilton Town Center, he found the baby in a Lexus "parked in the direct sunlight with no shade."

According to the officer's testimony in the affidavit, "the child appeared to be very hot in that she was sweating profusely on the head, neck and back."

When the officer got the girl out of the car, "the child's arm and leg were very hot to the touch."

Also in the affidavit, police said Thakkar "admitted to leaving her infant in her unattended vehicle so she could shop at Gymboree and Bed, Bath and Beyond, because the child was fussing, tired and hungry."

That's not the only spot at the shopping center where people said they witnessed the baby left alone in the car, her mother nowhere in sight. Police interviewed three women who told them they noticed a baby alone in a Lexus parked outside Coldwater Creek earlier that day with all four of the windows rolled down.

One woman went to call 911 to report the situation. Two others told police they stayed there and watched "a female came out of Gymboree, walked to the trunk of the Lexus, placed a bag inside the trunk and went back inside another store; noting that the lady did not stop and check on the child."

Police said the temperature outside that day was 101 degrees. They found the temperature inside the car to be 110 degrees.

Thakkar could face six months to three years if convicted.

Read the affidavit