Mom accused of leaving three-month-old baby in hot car to go horse riding at fairground

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Louise Thomas

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A Nebraska mother is facing charges of child abuse after allegedly leaving her three-month-old baby in a hot car to go horse riding at a fairground.

Cara Dugan, 40, was arrested while riding a horse at the Merrick County Fairgrounds on Saturday afternoon, a day that reached 90F, after passers-by heard her baby crying in a hot pickup truck and stepped in to help, according to the Merrick County Sheriff’s Office.

Despite being in the truck with windows only “partially ajar” and no air conditioning for a “substantial amount of time”, the child did not receive any injuries, and is now in the care and custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials are also crediting caring citizens for noticing the child’s distress and taking action, saying someone heard its cries and searched several vehicles before finding Ms Dugan’s truck, even helping to care for the infant along with other people at the fairground.

“Tragedy was most likely avoided thanks to their response and actions,” the sheriff’s office added.

Meanwhile, Ms Dugan was allegedly “inside of a building riding a horse,” before she was booked into Merrick County Jail on one count of felony child abuse.

This comes less than one week after a nine-month old died in Beeville, Texas, after being left alone inside a hot car by its grandmother for almost eight hours on August 21.

That day saw record-breaking temperatures of 106F, with a police statement saying the child had been left alone in the car at approximately 8.30am, and was found “non-responsive” by the grandmother at around 4pm that afternoon.

In July, a six-month-old Louisiana baby died after one of his parents forgot to drop him off at daycare, leaving him in the vehicle while temperatures soared above 100F.

So far this year there have been 27 reported child deaths due to being left in hot cars – only two away from the total in 2023, which was 29 child deaths according to the National Safety Council.