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Courtesy photo / Shelton Cover was being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail after being charged with leaving his 4-year-old son alone in a car.DELTONA -- A South Florida man was arrested Sunday afternoon when it was discovered that he had left a 4-year-old boy alone in his Toyota Camry rental for at least 13 minutes while he went into a grocery store.
"The boy was unharmed, but was in potential danger in a warm car with the windows rolled up, the car off and the doors locked," Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said of the incident in the Publix Shopping Center, 2783 Elkcam Blvd.
Shelton Cover, 32, of Hollywood, was charged with leaving a child younger than 6 unattended, a felony.
The boy was unharmed and turned over to his mother who was called to the scene by deputies. A concerned citizen saw Cover get out of his vehicle in the parking lot of the Publix at about 2:39 p.m. Cover went into the store, leaving the boy in the back seat alone Haught said.
"Deputies and the Deltona Fire Department were called to the scene where they saw the boy sweating and nervous but alert," the Sheriff's spokesman said. "It was 86 degrees with a 90 degree heat index at the time. Firefighters pried open a door, got the boy out and had him checked out by EVAC Ambulance paramedics."
"Deputies and the Deltona Fire Department were called to the scene where they saw the boy sweating and nervous but alert," the Sheriff's spokesman said. "It was 86 degrees with a 90 degree heat index at the time. Firefighters pried open a door, got the boy out and had him checked out by EVAC Ambulance paramedics."
As this was happening, deputies noted that a man with a cart full of groceries was walking around nearby and watching what was going on.
"He was questioned by deputies and admitted that he was responsible for the boy," Haught said. "He initially explained that he had thought his wife was with the boy, but later changed his story to say that he simply wasn't aware that the boy was in the back seat at the time he went into the store."
Cover was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach without incident.
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