Titusville arrests: Infant left in parked car for 20 minutes, police say

Zoey Connor, 26, and Ethan Humes, 28, were arrested Thursday, Oct. 29, on child neglect charges after police said they left an infant alone in the backseat of a car while they walked around a PETCO store in Titusville, Florida. Humes also faces a charge of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle, which he admitted to after telling officers he was the driver.

A witness called 911 that day after finding a baby girl alone in the backseat of a car covered by a blanket. The child was crying, sweaty and red, and the engine was off, the arrest report states. The witness told police the infant had been in the car at least five minutes before she placed the call. Police and paramedics responded to the PETCO lot near Columbia Blvd. and Windover Trail, removed the child from the vehicle and moved her into an air-conditioned patrol car. Paramedics examined the infant and found no serious injury.

Officers located Connor and Humes inside the store. Surveillance video showed the pair had been inside PETCO for roughly 20 minutes, according to the report. The arrest report indicates the two appeared to be babysitting the child and had another child with them. Humes told police he and Connor had planned the trip to last 5 to 10 minutes, though he said he was not tracking the time. He said leaving the house with the infant is unusual, so it "completely slipped his mind" once they reached the store, and that he "did not think to look in the back seat" because the older child could get in and out of the vehicle on his own.

Humes told investigators he would never intentionally harm the infant and "feels extreme guilt about what occurred," adding that this had never happened to him before, the report states. Connor was arrested on a child neglect charge, and a judge set her bond at $50,000 on Friday. The infant was later released to a parent. Police Chief Tyler Wright said in a statement that the department is "incredibly grateful for the concerned citizen who recognized a potentially dangerous situation and took immediate action." The arrest report does not specify the relationship between Connor and Humes in relation to the baby.