Woman Cited For Leaving Baby In Hot Car While Getting A Tan

PARKER, Colo. (CBS4) - Police were called to the parking lot of a tanning salon in Parker after a baby was found locked in a sweltering car.

A customer of At The Beach salon spotted the baby Thursday when temperatures were in the upper 90s putting the little girl in serious danger.

A police officer used an infrared thermometer to measure how hot it was. It's pointed it at the car and it gives a reading of how hot it is in the car. The reading they got with the baby inside was 135 degrees.

The alarm came from a flustered customer at the tanning salon.

"She's like, 'Do you guys know that we have a baby in the car alone (with the) windows up?'" Daniel Rohn with At The Beach said.

Rohn called police and rushed out to the car.

"I put my ear against the driver's side window and I could hear the baby crying," Rohn said.

It was the baby of one of his customers, Imene Nouis.She had been in a tanning bed for about 11 minutes.

"The police officers were upset with her and let her know that," Rohn said. "She was stunned. She didn't quite understand what was going on and didn't think she had done anything wrong."

Police checked the 1-year-old out and luckily she is going to be okay. Nouis didn't want to speak with CBS4.

"She said, 'I'm a good mother and I felt like it was okay. She was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her up,'" Rohn said.

Police said the incident should be a reminder to never leave a child in a car for any amount time.

"Had somebody not called this in, this could have been a very different outcome," Sherry Corcoran with Parker police said.

Nouis was cited for misdemeanor child abuse. The case has been handed over to the Health Department and Child Protective Services.