Clearwater woman arrested after allegedly leaving kids in car at Costco
Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Pinellas County deputies arrested Patricia Yager Saturday morning after they say she left children in the car to pick up a carton of milk at Costco.
Deputies said they were called to the Costco at 2655 Gulf to Bay Boulevard in Clearwater after someone noticed a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old alone inside of a car.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy said both children in their car seats inside the vehicle with the windows up and all four doors locked. It was approximately 75 degrees outside and the deputy said one of the children was crying and appeared to be in distress.
The deputy punched the front driver’s side window to get inside the car and pull the children from the vehicle.
According to the deputy, the children had red cheeks and their faces were moist and warm to the touch.
When deputies made contact with Yager, who was caring for the children at the time, she told them that the children were sleeping when she pulled into Costco and she thought it would be OK to leave them for a few minutes while she ran inside the store to get milk.
Yager told deputies that she didn’t realize how hot it was outside.
The children were inside the car for approximately 20 minutes.
Yager was arrested on charges of child neglect.