Police: Mother left 4-month-old alone in car 2 times in 1 day

NORWALK, CT (KTRK) -- A mother has been arrested after police say she left a 4-month-old baby alone in her SUV not once, but twice in the same day.

A woman was on her lunch break around noon when she heard a baby screaming. She went to check it out and saw a child locked in a white Toyota Land Cruiser without even a crack in the windows.

Staff members from a nearby daycare immediately called 911.

"The baby was definitely hot when I touched toes," Jen Pennucci said. "Wasn't sweaty, but could tell had been crying a while and under distress."

Police and firefighters spent several minutes trying to unlock the vehicle before breaking the window to free the crying baby. They took the baby to the hospital for evaluation, and then released the infant to the father.

Authorities charged 46-year-old Hiroko Kurihara with two counts of injury to a minor and two counts of leaving a child unattended in a car. Police say Kurihara had also left the child in the car for an hour while she worked out a gym earlier in the morning, ABC affiliate WTNH-TV reports.

Kurihara is being held on a $10,000 bond.