GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Lawrenceville Police have charged a mother after her 1-year-old child was found dead in a hot car outside the hospital where she works.
Officers arrested Deja Coleman, 29, on Wednesday at Northside Gwinnett Hospital.
Lawrenceville Police Capt. Dena Pauly said the mother was “devastated” when she was told.
“I know that they took the inside reading of the car approximately one hour after the child was removed, and the temperature one hour later was 117 degrees,” Capt. Pauly said.
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Coleman told officers that she has three children and drove them to daycare earlier that day. Police say she took her 6-year-old and 4-year-old inside but didn’t drop off her 1-year-old.
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Capt. Pauly said all three children typically go to daycare.
Coleman drove to work and parked in the employee lot and went inside for her shift at 6:50 a.m., according to investigators.
Police news conference on the death on WSB-TV’s YouTube channel:
Hours later, police say another hospital employee walked back to her car around 3:50 p.m. and saw the 1-year-old “slumped in the car seat” and called 911.
Officers who were working part-time at the hospital arrived within minutes. Coleman faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree felony cruelty to children.
Coleman’s other children are in the custody of their father, police said.
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