Weslaco mother charged after baby found in hot car

WESLACO — Police arrested the mother of a year-old boy found locked inside a hot car Sunday morning.

Weslaco police and emergency personnel responded to Northside Apartments, 1800 N. Texas Blvd., about 9:40 a.m. Sunday regarding a child locked inside a Chevrolet Lumina.

An officer broke the car’s window open with a hammer and removed the baby boy, who was strapped in his baby carrier, sweating profusely and taking shallow breaths, police said in a statement.

Officers said the child's mother, Crystal Dale Ramirez, 20, was "nowhere to be seen."

Police found where they believed the mother lived and knocked on the door. No one answered.

An officer climbed through a window into the apartment and woke up the Ramirez, who was asleep upstairs, police said.

The mother said she got home sometime before dawn and "thought" she left her child with a babysitter, police wrote in the statement. She told officers she had a few beers at a house in Mercedes, got home between 5 and 6 a.m. and thought she left her child there.

Officers arrested Ramirez, of Weslaco, on child endangerment charges.

At an arraignment hearing Monday morning, Weslaco Municipal Judge Carlos Garza formally charged Ramirez and set her bond at $15,000 for the second felony charge. If convicted, Ramirez could face up to 20 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.

Ramirez’s son was turned over to state Child Protective Services investigators, who also are investigating the incident. The whereabouts of the baby's father are unknown, police said.

Police said Monday morning the baby boy was doing well — and was fortunate he was found in the morning.

“If it was a little later, that kid would have died,” Weslaco police spokesman David Molina said.

At least seven children have died in the Rio Grande Valley heat after they were left inside vehicles, according to research by Jan Null, a meteorology professor at San Francisco State University. At least 24 children nationwide have died after they were left in hot cars this year.