By Billy Davis

A mother has been charged with neglect for leaving her two children unattended in an automobile while she shopped.

Batesville police were called just after noon on Saturday when a witness reported the incident. The mother, Stephanie Ann Copeland, of Marks, had parked at Factory Stores of Mississippi near Rue 21.

The children’s ages were listed as 1 and 4, said BPD Deputy Chief Don Province.

“The automobile was not running, and the children were sweating and hot,” said BPD Detective George Williford.

Copeland is charged with a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $500. The mother could have been charged with a felony if the children had been seriously harmed.

Police recorded a temperature of 92 degrees with a heat index of 101, said the detective.

The Department of Human Services intervened at the scene, and the children were released into the custody of their father.

Pressed by police to explain the unattended children, the mother said she had left the car running and also said her sister was supposed to be watching them, police said.

“The car wasn’t running, and there was no one else around,” said Williford.

“She also told the officer that she had been gone a minute, and the officer said, ‘I’ve been here longer than a minute,’” Province said.

The deaths of unattended children in vehicles has garnered attention in recent years after a spat of child deaths in Memphis.  Thirty-five children across the U.S. died in automobiles from heat stroke last year.   

A university study performed in 2008 found 361 heat stroke deaths over the last decade. Of those deaths, 51 percent occurred when the children were accidentally left unattended.