Police: Baby found left alone in car in SW Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- One man is charged with a felony after police say he left his one-year-old stepson inside a car for at least an hour.

Officers found the baby in the driver's seat of a white SUV in a parking lot near West Bellfort and South Gessner. The baby was unrestrained, and the windows were rolled up. According to police, a stranger heard the baby crying and called 911.

When police arrived, the baby's stepfather ran into the parking lot from a plasma donation center.

"He claimed that he was in there trying to buy food for the child," Officer Gerald Robertson says. "But he didn't even come out with any food."

Officers placed the stepfather in handcuffs and walked him into the back of a police car. Meanwhile, an officer held the child, trying to soothe a crying - but otherwise unharmed - baby.

The baby's grandparents arrived to take him home. Houston police have not released the man's name yet, but they say the district attorney's office has accepted child endangerment charges.

"It's a very large parking lot out here, so anybody could have come out and taken this child," Officer Robertson says. "Something could have happened to this vehicle, so that's something very serious."

Customers shopping nearby say they are glad the man is going to jail.

"You're going to go into the plasma center knowing you're going to be in there for over, like, two hours," Mrs. Matthews says. "You're going to leave your baby in your car? That's just so mind-boggling."

The baby is in the care of his grandparents for now. His stepfather is charged with a felony and being held behind bars until he faces a judge.