Brian Slodysko/TribLocal reporter
A five-month-old infant was left alone in a parked car while his father shopped for iPod accessories in a Downers Grove electronics store, police said Monday.
According to a police report, Hanif Sashekhem, 44, of the 2100 block of Oxnard Drive in Downers Grove, was arrested for endangering the life and health of a child at 3 p.m. Thursday. Police say Sashekhem left his infant son strapped into a car seat in direct sunlight while temperatures reached 79 degrees. The vehicle’s windows were rolled down about one-third of the way, according to police.
Police were alerted after two people noticed the baby was left unattended in Sashekhem’s SUV, which was parked in the electronic store’s lot in the 7400 block of Lemont Road.
Sashekhem told police he was not aware that leaving a child unattended was illegal, and surveillance footage from the store’s security camera indicated that Sashekhem was in the store for about ten minutes, according to the report.
Sashekhem was booked and released after posting a $30 booking fee. The child was released to Sashekhem’s wife.
According to Jimmie Whitelow, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services, the agency has not received a report on the incident.
What timing!!! Just came across this today:
“The top 5 Worries Parents Should Drop” from NPR website.
Did you hear how many babies last year were randomly (not by the a biological parent)snatched from cars outside of stores in the USA? I’m thinking it’s zero. That would have been all over the news. For arguments sake, let’s say it was 10. Divide that by the number of babies in the USA and…it’s statistically pretty close to 0%.
79 degrees outside, windows down. Let’s call it 84 in the car (with the windows down, this is close). Why aren’t you people demanding the arrest of parents without air conditioning in the 5-story walk-up apartment every summer? 90 deg is not uncommon in those apartments. Oh yeah, and that little baby sleeping at the park in his stroller (under the immediate supervision of his mother) and it’s warmer than 79 degrees out. Lock her up to! And if she goes to push her other kid on a swing…forgetaboutit.
So this sleeping baby was in mid-80′s heat for ten minutes. Don’t be irrational. Fret about things that ACTUALLY screw kids up. Like fatherless youths.
Ummm Blareblog….. Chicago is NOT the home of the carjacker. Actually chicago does not even rank in the top 25 cities in car jackings. Please get your facts straight
Hey prefont… are you crazy? 80 degrees outside would be about 90 in a car. You dont leave a dog in that alone much less a little child.
While I don’t necessarily agree with what this man did, I do admit to having left my son in the car, mostly when I go to garage sales. The car is always running with the air on (in the summer), and I have an extra key in case anything goes awry. It hasn’t, and he’s been fine. I wouldn’t leave him to go into a store, even for a few minutes. I would to run in and pick up dry cleaning, as long as the car was parked right in front. I can’t imagine that all you goody-two-shoes out there have never run in to get something from the house and not left the kid in the car. Admit it and get off your high horse.
Listen. You’re not in Kansas anymore. This is Chicago, the home of the carjacker. Why would you need to be TOLD, NOT to leave the baby in the car?
Totally agree with McGuffin. Regardless of the temperature, the article states the windows were rolled down 1/3 of the way. That means anyone could reach inside the car and unlock the doors, if they were locked, and snatch the baby. Does that sound like a responsible place to leave your 5 month old infant? I think not.
prefont, are you out of your freaking mind? Do you not read the papers or watch TV? I can count at least 5 instances of people leaving kids in their cars this summer alone and the results are always that they are arrested. Not only it is illegal, it is stupid and dangerous. This idiot left the windows down 1/2 way? I could remove that child from that car in about 10 seconds and be gone before anyone noticed. Would you leave your wallet or phone in an unlocked, windows open car? Then why would you ever leave a child? As for him being present in his kids life. He wouldn’t be if someone decided to snatch him. Then what would you have said?
79 degrees outside, maybe, but who knows what the temperature was inside the car, even with the windows down. More importantly, all it takes is a few minutes and someone could have taken the baby.
Really?? Come On?? I have never left my children in a car unattended! I used to carry the car seat into the cleaners to get the dry cleaning when they were infants for one example. Pleading ignorance is not acceptable especially when these stories are on the news all the time. Even though it’s ONLY79 degrees outside the car heats up fast and to unbearable temps pretty fast. What ever happened to people using common sense?
I’m sorry, but come on. Any parent whose never once left a child (a sleeping one at that) unattended in their car for a short period of time to pay for your gas, return books at the library, etc, raise your hand. I for one also was unaware that this was a crime. Unadvisable, yes, but a crime, no.
I know, I know, it was 79 degrees out. BFD. 79 degrees is not the same as 89 degrees. Cops were too tough on this guy. Name and picture in the paper, too? Man oh man. Give the guy a warning and give him a break. At least the guy actually is actually present in his kid’s life.