A Florida teenager is accused of locking her 2-year-old daughter in a hot car with a heat index of 107 degrees while she watched the new “Smurfs” movie with her siblings, according to police.
Tripura Merriex, 18, has been charged with felony child neglect after allegedly leaving her daughter unattended in a 2002 Cadillac Escalade at the Regal Cinema 90 on U.S. Highway 90 in Lake City, according to local police.
Police arrived on the scene after witnesses called 911 to report Merriex and were forced to break a window to gain access to the child.
“I applied a window break to the driver’s side window after observing the child in the front passenger seat,” an officer states in the arrest report.
Merriex’s daughter was “visibly distressed” when officers discovered her inside the woman’s car. The child “had a flushed red appearance, was sweating profusely, and was crying in distress,” the cop claims, noting that Merriex’s daughter had been inside the Escalade for at least 30 minutes.
Merriex’s arrest report, obtained by Law&Crime on Monday, describes her “very nonchalant demeanor” while her child was inside the locked vehicle. ” She claimed she “accidentally” locked her daughter inside the car and “acted as though the whole situation wasn’t a big deal as she just stood next to her vehicle,” according to police.
Merriex allegedly told police that she took her daughter to see “Smurfs” with her brother and sister, and that while they were watching the movie, the child “kept crying loudly” and caused a “disturbance,” according to police.
“Mrs. Merriex said that she brought [her daughter] out to the lobby to keep from disrupting other movie viewers’ experience,” according to the summons.
Police say Merriex admitted to doing this “a few times” before abandoning her daughter in the Escalade. Police reported that the temperature was 94 degrees with a heat index of 107. Merriex’s daughter appeared “flushed, sweating, and crying,” according to a Lake City Police press release.
An employee at the Regal Cinema allegedly told investigators that Merriex seemed “very annoyed with her daughter’s crying.” According to the arrest report, she left the “Smurfs” show periodically to check on the victim before allegedly assigning the task to her siblings.
“After a few trips of Mrs. Merriex going out to her vehicle, the other two individuals that she had come into the cinema with started alternating out on every other trip,” according to police.
Merriex’s husband later claimed in interviews that she “had a history of very un-rational decision making when it came to dealing with their daughter’s crying,” according to her arrest report. He accused her of lacking “patience” when it came to caring for the child and having “negative reactions to stress related to being a parent,” according to the report.
“Our officers responded quickly to ensure the safety of this young child,” said Chief of Police Gerald Butler in a statement Monday. “Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle under these conditions is not acceptable. We are grateful that the child is safe and encourage all parents to prioritize their children’s well-being at all times.
Merriex is currently being held in the Columbia County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
