An 18-year-old Utah mother locked her crying 2-year-old child in a sweltering car so she could watch the “Smurfs” movie at a theater undisturbed, according to local police.
Tripura Merriex pulled her crying daughter out of a showing of “Smurfs” at the Regal Cinema in Lake City, Utah, on Saturday — and placed her in a 2002 Cadillac Escalade after failing to console the tot, according to CBS47.
Temperatures reached 94 degrees with a heat index of 107 degrees Saturday in Utah, the Lake City Police Department said in a statement.
Responding police officers busted in through a window of the Cadillac and found the child was “sweating profusely and was crying in distress,” Law and Crime reported.
When Mirriex emerged from the movie theater, she attempted to brush off concern, behaved “very nonchalant,” and “acted as though the whole situation wasn’t a big deal as she just stood next to her vehicle,” the police report stated.
The callous cinephile claimed to have simply forgotten her young daughter in the car momentarily — but witnesses painted a different picture.
Mirriex, who attended the movie with her younger brother and sister, purposefully put the child in the sweltering SUV and periodically checked on the kid as the movie played, according to a witness cited by CBS47.
She even sent her siblings to check on her child while staying in the cool theater to watch “Smurfs,” Law and Crime reported, citing a Regal Cinemas employee.
Mirriex was arrested and charged with felony child neglect and remains booked in Columbia County Jail, according to reports.
The 2-year-old child has recovered from what could have been a fatal incident and is doing OK, the family told the local CBS affiliate station.
So far this year, at least 15 children have died after being left in hot cars in the US, according to the National Safety Council. An average of 37 children under the age of 15 die each year from heatstroke in vehicles.
