Man arrested for leaving child in locked car

A Brownsville man has been arrested by police on a charge of child endangerment after authorities found that he left his 15-month-old baby inside a locked car in the parking lot of a local grocery store.

Authorities had to force open the locked vehicle in order to remove the baby who had been left behind while Oscar De Los Santos, 24, went inside the store, police said.

De Los Santos was arrested Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of the H-E-B store on Boca Chica Boulevard and charged with one count of child endangerment, said police spokesman Eddie Garcia.

This morning, De Los Santos went before a municipal judge who set his bond at $20,000 and remanded him to the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito after De Los Santos failed to post bond.

According to a police report, store employees contacted authorities after a customer informed them that a baby had been locked in a car.

When police arrived they found the vehicle, a Chrysler PT Cruiser locked, with the windows up and the child strapped to a child seat in the backseat. The vehicle was turned off.

"The child looked to be alert and scared," the report stated. "His face was red and looked to be sweating profusely."