Lafayette mother accused of leaving child in car

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – A Lafayette woman is accused of leaving a baby inside a car on a warm summer day for more than one hour.

Kiya Harris, 23, faces felony charges of neglect of a dependent.

Officers with the Lafayette Police Department were called to the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on Veterans Memorial Parkway June 3, after receiving a call about a baby left alone in a car.

They found Harris’s baby, who was less than one year old, crying inside the vehicle. The baby was taken to St. Elizabeth East to be treated.

Lafayette police said Harris did not return to her car until one hour after police were contacted. They said she also started to drive away without noticing the baby was no longer in the car, before she was stopped by police.

She was arrested and booked at the Tippecanoe County Jail.