Crime & Safety

Child left Alone in Car, Window Opened in 18° Temps

According to Wilton Police a woman left her 2-1/2 year old unattended in a running car while she was shopping at Village Market. The child opened the window while it was 18° outside and snowing.

A Redding woman was arrested after leaving her child unattended in her Infiniti, which she left running while she went into Village Market to shop on Jan. 21.

Danielle L Vanriper, 37, of 3 Quarry Rock Rd in Redding, left her 2-1/2 year-old child inside her 2013 Infiniti SUV for what police clocked as seven minutes, during which the store paged her to alert her that the car window was fully open allowing snow to get into the vehicle and leaving the child in full view.

According to Lt. Wakeman, the woman claimed she had only been inside the store for two minutes. The child was seated in the rear seat and apparently hit the button that controls the window and opened it.

At the time the temperature was just 18° and it was snowing.  

Lt. Wakeman said the child seemed fine and that Vanriper was issued a misdemeanor summons on site. She was allowed to drive away after the incident, though DCF was alerted to the issue and will conduct an investigation. 

Vanriper was released on a Promise to Appear and has a date in court on Jan. 30.


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