Two Mexican parents have been arrested after a passerby pulled out a "sweaty and screaming" five-year-old girl from a locked pick-up truck while they shopped at Home Depot Tuesday, UK MailOnline reported. However, the parents, Angelica Lerma-Montoya and Dulces Monge-Perez, have insisted that they were unaware that their daughter had joined them on the one-hour shopping trip.
The distraught girl, who has not been identified, told Albuquerque, New Mexico police Tuesday that she had been locked in the car as punishment for not eating her food earlier that day. With temperatures soaring past 90 degrees, she tried to escape through the truck's rear-sliding window but to no avail. Exhausted, she started screaming for help, alerting passerby's who pulled her free and immediately contacted the police.
She was "screaming, sweating, unsure and very scared," one of the passersby, Sheena Mayorga, told KOB-TV, adding that the parents didn't return from the store for another 45 minutes.
"I hope they don't get the child back, they don't deserve the child if they're going to be doing that," another passerby, John Bodenheimer said. "I mean, they were in the store for over an hour. That child could have easily died." Even the windows had not been cracked open, he added.
While waiting for the police, Home Depot workers took the child inside the store and gave her water. When her parents finally stepped outside, they were filmed sitting inside the truck and sobbing before being taken away by police officers, according to UK MailOnline.
"One of their daughters, 19-year-old Anna Monge, told KOAT that her parents didn't know the girl was in the truck, explaining that the girl often follows them around without noticing," according to UK MailOnline. "Monge added that her parents have always taken good care of their six children, who range in age from three months to 19 years."
After being rushed to a hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion, the girl was released to the Children, Youth and Families Department on Tuesday night. "A tragedy was prevented today," Albuquerque Police Lt. Eric Jordan said at the scene.
Facing felony charges of child abuse with great bodily harm in court Wednesday, both parents were sentenced to remain in jail on $40,000 bond. Four of their other children remain in the custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department.
