NewsRegionWayne County

Woman calls 911 when she realizes baby left alone in car is not a toy

Posted at 4:51 PM, Mar 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-15 23:26:39-04

"Once she found out she was real and no one was there, I called 911," said Maureen Marlow who was with her friend, Tammy Spiker, when they spotted what looked like a baby, alone in a car outside Sam's Club in Southgate Wednesday. 

It happened around 5:15 pm Wednesday outside the Sam's Club on Northline Road.

Spiker got out of her vehicle for a closer look to see if the child was a toy, and when she could see the baby was real, Marlow called 911. 

Police arrived and used a tool to open the locked vehicle.

Other shoppers, including Kaitlyn Wolske, began recording the incident on their cell phones and eventually spotted the mother being escorted out of the store by another police officer. 

Wolske said she asked the woman how she could forget her baby and the woman responded by saying that she didn't forget her, but that her baby had been sleeping. 

Southgate Police arrested the mother, but she was later released pending possible charges. 

A spokesperson for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office says they have received a warrant request from police and will be reviewing the case. 

Some shoppers say they overheard police and store workers saying they believed the baby had been alone in the car for about an hour.