A woman was arrested Monday night after Bryan police say she left a 9-month-old child alone inside a running vehicle in a Walmart parking lot.
Officers responded to a welfare concern at the Walmart in the 2200 block of Briarcrest Drive around 9:30pm. A caller said there was an infant alone and crying inside a vehicle in the parking lot.
44-year-old Tasha Chawnta Martin of Bryan, had returned to the vehicle and was attempting to leave when officers arrived.
According to arrest records, Martin told officers the 9-month-old boy was her godson. The child was sitting in a child safety seat in the front passenger seat, but was not restrained in the seat, not was the seat secured to the vehicle.
Martin told police she had gone inside Walmart and had been in the store for less than five minutes. Dispatch records showed that seven minutes had passed between the initial call about finding the child and Martin’s return to the vehicle.
Police contacted the child’s parents, who came to the scene and took custody of the infant.
Martin was arrested for Abandonment of a Child with Intent to Return. She was booked into Brazos County Jail and has been released on $10,000 bond.