EAST HARTFORD, CT – A woman from Hartford was arrested for leaving a child in the car on a hot day while she went to get her nails done.
Rosheenamarie Francis, 28, told police that she forgot the 6-year-old was in the car Friday in front of the Lena’s Nails II on Burnside Avenue in East Hartford.
Police said that the windows were rolled up and that the temperature inside reached 140 degrees. The child was inside for between one and two hours.
“All the windows was up. He was rocking back and forth in the backseat,” witness My Cao said. “He was sweating, drooling, crying, couldn’t really breathe.”
The boy was taken to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.
He was conscious and alert. Police said the child was not seriously harmed.
A witness first called police.
“No emotions, she wasn’t upset,” Cao said, who is an employee at Lena’s Nails II.
Cao was on break when she spotted the child.
Cao said she waited briefly and wanted to give the caretaker the benefit of the doubt.
After a few minutes, she went back in the packed Lena’s Nails II to make an important announcement.
“I said to everyone, ‘Is that your kid in the car,’ before I call police because I don’t want anyone to get in trouble,” Cao said. “And she was still bickering about her nails.”
Adrienne Belyeu was a customer in salon at the time and Cao asked her if it was her child.
“She kept asking people here and nobody responded,” Belyeu said.
Cao said she had a funny feeling about Francis.
“He was crying, had liquids all on his face,” Cao said.
Both police and fire departments responded to the scene, according to officers.
The Department of Children and Families was also notified.
Francis was charged with risk of injury to a minor.
Francis has not commented about the incident.
It is unclear when Francis will be in court on these charges.
