Police: Bluffton mother leaves kid in hot car, gets mouthy with cop, goes to jail

A Bluffton woman was charged with child neglect Sept. 26 after she allegedly left her child unattended in a hot vehicle for over 15 minutes and then argued with a police officer when faced with arrest.

A Bluffton police officer was called to the Publix on Buckwalter Place Boulevard around 6 p.m. after a customer told an employee that a small child had been left unattended in a vehicle in the parking lot, according to a Bluffton Police report.

The employee said the grocery store had paged the vehicle owner several times and received no response before calling police.

The vehicle was beginning to pull away when the officer walked over and stopped it, the report said.

The officer noted in the report that the two rear windows were cracked about two inches and that the female child in the rear passenger seat had her seat belt on.

The driver told the officer she’d left her daughter inside alone for “Oh, for like five minutes,” the report said.

Based on store employee accounts, the officer determined that the child had been in the vehicle alone for at least 17 minutes, the report said.

The officer then told the woman that the heat index at the time was 104 degrees.

“(The woman) stated ‘104, oh, I’m really sweating,’” the report said.

The officer noted that the woman replied “in a real sarcastic tone of voice” before saying “this is bull----” when asked for her identification.

“Do you think it’s bull---- (that) your child could have possibly died if something would have happened?” the officer asked.

The woman told the officer that what she was doing was not illegal, and the officer informed her that in South Carolina, it is child neglect to leave a child unattended in a vehicle.

“My primary concern is for your daughter’s safety and you are blowing me off like I am not important,” the officer said to the woman. “You are trying to tell me how to do my job and I do not appreciate that. I do not like that you are blowing me off like it is a minor little incident.”

As the officer spoke, the woman allegedly rolled her eyes and scrolled through her phone, a move the officer described as “not being respectful,” the report said.

The officer eventually asked the woman to get out of her vehicle and placed her in handcuffs after she continued to be uncooperative, the report said.

“You’re such a bad person,” the woman allegedly said to the officer. “Let me the (expletive) go! ... . Take these off. I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

She was charged with misdemeanor unlawful neglect of a child and taken to the police station before she was transported to the Beaufort County Detention Center, the report said. She released the following day on a personal recognizance bond, according to Beaufort County Court and detention center records.

According to the report, the Department of Social Services was also notified of the incident.

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Police: Bluffton mother leaves kid in hot car, gets mouthy with cop, goes to jail."