A mother will be fined $60 plus fees for leaving her small child locked in a car in a hot Montreal shopping mall parking lot Thursday afternoon. A crown prosecutor has yet to decide whether charges will be laid.
A police officer had to break a car window to get to a baby, left alone and who was visibly sweating, at the Rockland Centre.
Police say a passerby noticed the little boy crying and sweating in the car around 2:50 p.m. at a time when the temperature was around 22 degrees.
Video surveillance cameras at the Rockland Shopping Centre showed the seven-month-old child had been left alone for at least 40 minutes, according to police.
A spokesman for Urgences Sante says the child was conscious and alert when paramedics tended to him.
The child was brought to hospital as a precaution.
Police located the child’s mother, who is 29, in the mall by paging her over the loudspeaker system and she accompanied the baby to hospital.
A complaint has been sent to the Department of Youth Protection (DPJ) but the child is with his mother.
It remains unknown whether any criminal charges will be filed.
Montreal Police spokesperson Danny Richer said the investigators have met with the mother only once following the incident but that the investigation is ongoing.
Richer also confirmed that police have received 37 calls since June 1 of this year about children left alone in cars.
