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Shopping trip for school supplies nearly turned tragic
Mom told police officers she forgot about toddler in car
Amber Sue Adams
Adams

CUMMING — New details have emerged in the case of an 11-month-old child who was treated for heat exposure Wednesday after being left for an hour in a hot car while her mother and older siblings went shopping for school supplies.

According to a Cumming police report released Friday, officers observed that the child’s face was red and sweaty, and she cried while being treated by emergency medical personnel outside Walmart on Market Place Boulevard.

The doors to the car had been locked and its windows were rolled up.

It was not immediately clear who called 911 or what the temperature reached inside of the car, though the high Wednesday topped 90 degrees.

The child was then taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where she was treated for heat exposure and released. Authorities have said she is now in good condition.

As of Friday night, the child’s mother, 26-year-old Amber Sue Adams, remained in the Forsyth County Detention Center, where she was taken after being arrested about 5:36 p.m. two days earlier.

She faces charges of reckless conduct and cruelty to children in the second degree. A jail spokesman said her bond has been set at $11,715.

According to the police report, Adams told officers she had forgotten about her daughter because the child’s grandmother had placed her in a rear-facing car seat.

The report went on to note that Adams’ other three children — ages 7, 6 and 5 — could remove their own seatbelts, so she didn’t need to help them out.

The report described Adams as crying and asking about her daughter during the booking process, but that she was more “business-like” during questioning. Her other children left with the grandmother.

Adams was the second Forsyth County resident to be arrested last week after reportedly leaving a child in a car while they went shopping.

According to a report from the Milton Police Department, 31-year-old Joseph Anthony Iatauro of Cumming was charged with reckless conduct Monday night after he left his children, ages 2 and 4, in the back of his running Cadillac Escalade in the parking lot of Target on Hwy. 9.

Reports of children being left in cars have made state and national news this summer following the June 18 death of a toddler in Cobb County.

The boy died after his father left him in a vehicle for hours while working. He has since been charged with murder and child cruelty.