WBTW

South Carolina parents left baby home alone, went to gym, report says

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCBD) — Two people were arrested Sunday night after allegedly leaving their infant home alone while they went to the gym, according to a report obtained by News 2.

The arrests came after officers with the Summerville Police Department received an anonymous complaint about parents who had left their 7-month-old home alone. The report said they were seen getting into their car, without the child, and leaving earlier in the evening.

Officers responded to an apartment off New Canopy Court but were unable to contact the occupants. However, while knocking on a window, the officers heard what sounded like a child.

A maintenance worker provided officers with a key to the unit, and the child was found alone in a crib in a back bedroom.

Officers eventually made contact with the mother, and they were taken into custody after they returned home and charged with unlawful conduct toward a child.

According to the report, the woman said that she and her husband left for the gym after laying the child down. She said they were monitoring the baby through a camera.

She admitted to going to Pivotal Fitness, but officers noted that the closest location was one about 15 to 20 minutes away on Old Trolley Road.

“It was apparent that both parents realized that they had made a tremendous mistake and were taking full responsibility,” officers said in their report.

Police said the child appeared to be in good health. They said the infant was clean, fed, and that its bedroom was clean. The child was taken into emergency protective services.

The report said the father’s sister would be traveling from Tennessee to Charleston to take care of the infant during the investigation.

Both parents were taken to the Hill Finklea Detention Center.