An Instacart worker was arrested after he reportedly left an infant unattended in a 100-degree vehicle for over an hour while he shopped for a client inside a Publix in Tavares.
Keita Karanja Jones, 27, of Leesburg was charged with child neglect after his arrest Sunday at the store, located at 2101 State Road 19. A Tavares police officer and the Tavares Fire Department responded around 6 p.m. to a report of a juvenile locked inside a vehicle in the parking lot, according to the arrest report.
The caller, a Publix employee, said she was flagged down by a customer who told her about the infant in the vehicle. The infant was in a rear-facing car seat behind the driver’s seat. The vehicle was not running and the windows were only slightly rolled down, the report said.
When police and firefighters arrived, the infant was visibly sweating and appeared to be clammy with labored breathing. Firefighters were able to force the front passenger-side window down to enter the vehicle. Lake Emergency Medical Services arrived and the infant was turned over for treatment, according to the report.
The officer spoke with the store manager, who made a public address announcement for the driver to come to customer service. Jones came running and the officer escorted him out of the store and to the vehicle, the report said.
Jones said he hadn’t been in the store for a long time and was trying to complete a second Instacart order. He explained it was raining outside and he didn’t want to get the infant wet. Jones reiterated that he didn’t think he was in the store for very long. He was detained at 6:17 p.m., according to the report.
Security video showed Jones pulling into the parking lot at around 5:20 p.m., getting out of the vehicle and going into the store. Jones was alone from the time he entered the store until he was called to customer service, the report said.
The customer who first reported the child in the hot car said he arrived at 5:30 p.m. and parked next to Jones’ vehicle. He said as he got out of his vehicle, he saw the windows cracked and a baby inside Jones’ car. The witness said he checked to see if the infant was breathing and she was. He then flagged down the store employee to call 911, according to the report.
The employee said she was collecting shopping carts in the parking lot at around 6 p.m. when the customer flagged her down. She said she saw the baby in the hot car and called law enforcement, the report said.
Tavares firefighters measured the temperature in the car seat at between 100 and 105 degrees. The baby was turned over to another guardian after being left unattended from 5:21 to 6:06 p.m., a total of 85 minutes, according to the report.
Jones was taken to the Lake County Jail, where he was released after posting $2,000 bond.