Couple face neglect charges after police find 4-month-old unattended in lot
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Dustin Baker
Cierra Baker
A Nashville couple were arrested for leaving their 4-month-old child unattended in a truck in the parking lot of a grocery story on the west side of Columbus.
Dustin Baker, 25, and Cierra Baker, 23, were arrested by Columbus Police Department officers Monday evening. They were taken to Bartholomew County Jail on charges of neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony, said CPD spokesman Maj. Matt Myers. Each is being held on a $10,000 bond, according to the jail.
Myers said that at 7:30 p.m. police received a call about a small child who was left unattended and crying in a truck in the West Hill Shopping Center.
Patrol officers LaShawn Tyler and Curtis Nelson responded and located the truck. In it, a man who identified himself as a police officer from Brown County was holding and comforting the baby.
The man said that after coming out of the grocery store, he heard the baby crying and went to check on it.
The Columbus police officers waited at the truck at least 15 minutes until two adults, who identified themselves as the child’s parents, returned to the truck.
Police questioned them about why the child was left in the truck, Myers said. The mother said she took the couple’s two other children, ages 2 and 4, into the store but forgot the baby.
The father said he took the baby out to the vehicle and then went back inside to get the groceries. An ambulance was called to check on the health of the baby, who was determined to be OK.
Child Protective Services was called, and agency personnel took the baby and the other two children into their care.
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