The parents of an infant in Rhode Island have been taken into custody for leaving their baby unattended in an unheated car for several minutes while shopping at a nearby store.

On Saturday evening, passersby heard screams coming from the car and found the 14-month-old baby inside it. They immediately alerted the police.

Cranston Police Major Todd Patalano said the parents left the child in an unlocked and unsupervised vehicle at the parking lot of the Burlington Coat Factory for over 30 minutes while they shopped at a store. The car's heater was not working, NBC-affiliated television station WPXI reported.

Following a preliminary investigation, the child's parents, identified as 21-year-old Tatiana Lowrie and 35-year-old Marvin Bastien, were taken into custody. They appeared in court Monday and were charged with cruelty to or neglect of a child in connection with the incident. Information regarding their bail was not known.

"Without an alert witness, this could have been a very different situation given the risks these parents took," Patalano said in a statement, ABC 6 reported.

The baby is now in the custody of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF).

Last month, a woman in California was taken into custody after her two children – aged 1 and 2 – were found unconscious inside a car at a Walmart parking lot. Deputies arrived at the scene and safely removed the children from the vehicle. An investigation revealed the two were left unattended in the vehicle for over two hours. Officials also found methamphetamine and heroin "within arm's reach of both children." Following this, their mother was arrested and charged with child endangerment.

In another incident last year, a woman in New York left her children unsupervised in a car for over 30 minutes while she shopped in a nearby mall. The woman was taken into custody and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

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Representational image Photo by Pixabay (CC0)
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