HOUSTON – POLICE: Mother charged with leaving toddler in car while shopping
Houston Police charged Niabi Ariel Ristine-Miller, 30, with abandoning a child with intent to return after she left her 2-year-old son in a car while she went shopping, according to Harris County Pct. 5 Constable Capt. Romeo Chapa.
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Chapa said just before 2pm Tuesday afternoon, a witness flagged down an off duty DPS trooper about a child left in a back seat of car in a shopping center at 2650 Eldridge Parkway and Westheimer Road in West Houston. The trooper called Houston police, fire department and EMS. The fire department broke out the window of the car to get the toddler out, Chapa said.
Houston Fire Department paramedics said the child did not appear to be in distress and was not injured.
Police found Ristine-Miller in a store. The child was on the locked car for least 30 minutes, Chapa said.
According to court records, the child was left "in a motor vehicle with no air in the heat and in a parking lot." The mother said she left the engine running, but Chapa could not confirm the mother's statement. According to Local2News Meteorologist Britta Merwin, the temperature was between 88-89 degrees at 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Ristine-Miller posted a $2,000 bond and is due in court on Thursday to have an attorney assigned.