FLORENCE, Ky. -- A Newport, Kentucky mom was arrested and charged with child endangerment Wednesday after she left her 1-year-old in her SUV at the Florence Mall, police said.
Christina Krups, 29, left her child in her BMW for "at least 10 to 15 minutes," according to Florence Police Capt. Tom Grau.
Mall security found the child after a group of people began to gather around the SUV, he said.
The windows were down an inch and the car was locked, Grau said. It was 83 degrees outside the mall when security found the child. The temperature inside the car was 105 degrees.
"The 1-year-old child was still sleeping, had red cheeks and was sweating," Grau said. "The child, once awake, did not need further medical assistance and was released to the care of the father."
Krups told police that "she just went into the mall for a couple minutes and knew she left her child inside the vehicle," according to a citation.
Police took Krups to the Boone County jail. She's charged with a first-degree felony.
On the same day, a prosecutor in Warren County, Ohio announced he wouldn't bring charges against a mom whose daughter died in her car in August.
Prosecutor David Fornshell and Warren County Coroner's Office investigator Doyle Burke said the toddler's mother, a P&G employee, left the 15-month-old unattended in her parked car for nine hours on Aug. 23.
Fornshell, however, said the mother did not act recklessly. He said the little girl was well-cared for, healthy and her parents were "perhaps excessively" safety-conscious.
"By all accounts, these were really good parents," Fornshell said. Investigators talked to family members, coworkers and neighbors about the parents and daughter.
Fornshell said he didn't believe charges were appropriate, nor did they match the legal standard in this case.
"The closest charge that might be applicable is involuntary manslaughter ... and the closest felony is endangering children, where parents create a substantial risk," Fornshell said. "However, in both of these, the mental state of a parent must be reckless.
"Recklessness is more than a mistake, even if it's a deadly mistake," Fornshell said. "And there's no evidence that she acted with heedless indifference."
