A Queens nurse was arrested this week for leaving her kids — 1 and 3 — unattended in a hot car outside a Long Island mall as temperatures soared to 95 degrees, cops and prosecutors said.
The 1-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl were inside the unlocked vehicle parked outside the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream with the engine running around 4:20 p.m. Tuesday when a witness spotted them and called 911, Nassau County Police said.
Both kids were lethargic, dehydrated and disoriented when cops found them, court documents state.
Their mom, later identified as Lotanna Adjaero, 25 – a registered nurse who works as a home health aide – is accused of leaving the children in the car for about 45 minutes as she shopped, according to cops and a WABC report.
She was arrested and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, according to police and prosecutors.
The kids were taken to a hospital for evaluation and released to the custody of another family member, cops said.
The thermostat in the car indicated the outside temperature had reached a blistering 95 degrees, according to the criminal complaint.
Adjaero was released on her own recognizance during her arraignment on Wednesday.
The judge issued an order of protection requiring the mom to “refrain from any and all acts that create an unreasonable risk to the health, safety or welfare of both children,” the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said.
The incident occurred in the midst of a heat wave that is expected to continue through Thursday.
Meteorologist Cody Braud told The Post Sunday that the sizzling heat is “definitely unusual” but “not unheard of” this time of year — as meteorologically, fall began Sept. 1.
