Toddler found in hot car outside library

DULUTH, Ga. — Duluth police arrested a woman after they said they found her 2-year-old locked inside a hot car outside a public library.

Dashcam video given to Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh shows several concerned witnesses surrounding the car parked outside the library on Duluth Park Lane. A woman scurries to the vehicle just as an officer pulls up.

The woman, whom police identify as 36-year-old Dabriah Brown, of Athens, said she needed to return books and use the restroom and her son was asleep.

"I only went in for a second," she told the officer.

But witnesses said it more like a half an hour. Library workers told police when they finally located the mother she was inside the branch's quiet room on her laptop.

The video shows sunlight beaming off the car's rear window.

"You take any car and park it in the direct sunlight, even on a day with 80 degrees, the heat gets inside, and the temperature of the car goes up exponentially," Duluth police Maj. Don Woodruff said.

The video shows an officer leading the child out of the car. In his report, the officer noted the child was sweaty and scared but ultimately OK.

The mother contacted the child's father to pick him up. Then, police arrested Brown on second-degree child cruelty charges.

She has since bonded out of jail. Kavanaugh called her for a comment but has not received a reply.

WSBTV