Mother Arrested After Leaving Child In McDonald’s Parking Lot

Evans, GA—This is the first time, investigators tell us, anything like this has ever happened. Now, a mother with no criminal history is facing some serious charges, and her baby has been taken out of her care.

Capt. Steve Morris, Columbia County Sheriff’s Office: “This is quite disturbing…that you drive off and leave a 6-month-old in the parking lot for an extended amount of time.“

Captain Steve Morris of the Columbia County’s Sheriff’s Office, says that’s exactly what 27-year-old Harriett Thomas did.

Capt. Morris: “Miss Thomas was at the Evans McDonald’s, with her two children. From what we can tell, as she was leaving, she set the 6-month-old child, who was in a carrier, down on the ground, next to the vehicle, walked around to the other side, to tend to the other child, then drove off.“

We talked to a witness by phone who says something felt wrong from the beginning, when he saw her put the carrier down behind the car.

Cassidy Armstrong, witness:  “And I walked in and I made a comment about it to one of the workers, and about 2 minutes after that, an older lady rushes into McDonald’s and says someone just left their baby in the parking lot. I don’t understand how she could have missed it, at all, because the baby was in clear sight the whole time.“

Captain Morris says, about 45 minutes after investigators arrived at McDonald’s, Thomas’ husband showed up.

Capt. Morris: “He told us that she had called him to say, that basically she had lost her child It could have been very tragic, keep in mind this is a mid-July day, very hot, we have no idea how long the child was left. Could have been run over, lot of things could have happened, fortunately we had a citizen that stepped up, got involved, and really everything’s okay, right now.“

Thomas faces cruelty to children and child abandonment charges. She’s been released on $27,000 bond. We tried calling her, but she told us she had no comment.