LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — A Clearwater woman was arrested after allegedly leaving two disabled adults in a hot car in a Walmart parking lot on Saturday.
Largo police officers responded to the Walmart on Roosevelt Blvd. at around 2:46 p.m. for a report of a man and woman sitting in a car that was not running and had the windows rolled up. According to an arrest report, the temperature outside was 92 degrees and the woman was “banging on the passenger rear window as if she was in distress”.
Police said the people in the car, who they described as being “mentally deficient”, showed signs of moderate heat exhaustion, including profuse sweating, clammy skin and saying they were thirsty.
Surveillance video showed that their caregiver, Maria Gonzalez, 61, was inside of Walmart for about 38 minutes. She reportedly told police that she had done this before and it was “okay”.
Gonzalez was taken to the Pinellas County Jail and was charged with two counts of neglect of an elderly or disabled adult, which is a felony.
Note: a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the incident happened in Clearwater