She left her child in a hot car, then complained the police cruiser was ‘too hot,’ police say

A woman in South Daytona, Florida, faces child neglect charges after police discovered her son in a car with temperatures approaching 110 degrees.

Colleen Walker was arrested June 30 after a passerby noticed a young boy in the front seat of a car in a Dollar General parking lot, according to WESH.

The woman, Dee Dee Hannah, called 911 and requested a welfare check, according to audio posted by WKMG.

Police and emergency officials responded and discovered the child, 5, had been in the car for close to 30 minutes. According to WESH, police say one window was rolled down, while the rest were closed.

Walker eventually came out and spoke to officers, claiming that she only been shopping for 12 minutes with her 3-year-old daughter, according to WFTV. Surveillance footage later revealed this not to be the case, police say.

Temperatures recorded by the police indicate that the interior of the car was 107 degrees in the front and 110 degrees in the back. Police said the child appeared upset and was sweating profusely, per WFTV.

According to WKMG, Walker was arrested. However, while she was in the police cruiser, she allegedly asked for the air conditioning to be turned on because it was too hot in the backseat, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“She was complaining that the backseat of our patrol car was too hot on her way to the jail, and asked the officer to turn the AC up,” a police spokesperson told WFTV.

According to WKMG, Walker was later released from jail on a $5,000 bond. She told the station that people “need to mind their own ... business.”

According to Volusia County court records, Walker was arrested in 2007 and 2009 for possession of crack cocaine.

This story was originally published July 8, 2017 at 9:53 PM with the headline "She left her child in a hot car, then complained the police cruiser was ‘too hot,’ police say."