Children being left in vehicles in South Florida is becoming a disturbing trend.
For the third time in two weeks, a child was left in a car while a parent was away. This time, a mother claims she "forgot" the kid was in the locked car Friday as she shopped at a West Palm Beach strip mall, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Chekeena Hall, 23, has been charged with child neglect because of the incident.
According to sheriff's deputies, several people in the parking lot saw the child screaming and sweating in Hall's car with the windows up and the doors locked.
It took several people to pry the door of the Ford Mustang open and get the child out, who was visibly shaking.
Deputies had to go into the strip mall to try and find the child's parent. Hall eventually stepped forward and told police "she does not know how she forgot the child."
The mistake could have had a more tragic ending, as was the case at a Palm Beach daycare center where a child died from being trapped in a hot van.
Local
In a different episode, a child in Miami was nearly kidnapped Tuesday after her parents left her in the family van alone with the keys in the ignition.
