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Sandy Springs police search for mom of child left in hot car

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Sandy Springs police are investigating another apparent case of a child left in a hot car.

A woman told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik she was finishing a shopping trip at a Lowe's store on Roswell Road when she saw a little girl locked in a hot car. Now, police want to know why it happened.

“When we came out to the car, we went to get in and my husband looks over and realizes that there's a little girl locked in the car,” said Amanda Stanzione.

She showed Petchenik a cell phone picture of the car she and her husband encountered on Sunday afternoon.

“The windows were completely up.  The doors were locked and he immediately dialed 911.  I ran into the store to try to grab someone,” she said.

Stanzione said the child looked to be in distress.

“The little girl had tears running down her face.  I don't know really if it was tears or just sweat, because she was sweating profusely,” Stanizone said.

She said once inside the store, the child's mother overheard the conversation and ran outside to a crowd of angry onlookers.

“I, with some other bystanders said ‘You absolutely cannot do this.  This is crazy.  You don't leave your 3-year-old in a car," she told the child’s mother. “She started giving excuses, saying it was only five minutes. She was asleep."

Before police arrived, Stanzione said the woman took off, but she was able to take pictures of the car and the woman's license plate to give to officers. They’re now trying to locate the mother.

Stanzione said she thinks the mother should face charges, or at the very least, learn a lesson.

“Hopefully, she'll think next time before she leaves her child in the car,” she said.

Sandy Springs police said a detective is following up on the witness's reports and a police report says they have the pictures of the car and license plate.