A Florida woman was arrested after allegedly leaving her children in the car for nearly 30 minutes while shopping at a Dollar Tree store.
On Sunday, a witness contacted the Lee County Sheriff’s Office after noticing two young children alone in a turned-off car in the parking lot of the business on Homestead Road in Lehigh Acres, Fort Myers. Cops opened the doors and discovered the children who were strapped in the car.
The agency released body camera footage from the incident.
“Are you guys okay? Is it hot in here?” a deputy inquired, to which the children responded in the affirmative.
Marianne Isnar, 42, the children’s mother, emerged from the store shortly after the police began questioning them. Isnar claimed she had only been in the store for about five minutes.
“Five minutes?” Because I’ve been hearing this for about 25 minutes and the car isn’t on and the windows aren’t down,” the deputy explained. “Any particular reason why you’re leaving the kids in the car?”
Another cop observed that while there were water bottles in the car, nothing was inside them.
“Empty, empty, empty,” the deputy repeated.
Cops were perplexed as to why Isnar didn’t appear more concerned, given that temperatures were in the upper 90s and the heat index was in the triple digits. According to police, firefighters measured the temperature inside the car at 100 degrees after the doors had been open for 10 minutes.
“You’d think there’d be a little more remorse,” one deputy commented.
“Zero,” the other deputy replied.
Isnar was arrested on charges of child neglect and transported to the Lee County Jail, where she has since posted a $1,500 bond. The children were released to a family member.
“This woman chose to leave her children in a car during one of the hottest days we have had in Southwest Florida this year,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said. “Let this serve as a clear message: we will not hesitate to hold people accountable for putting a child’s life in danger. We are grateful that these children are safe.
