Police in Lower Allen Township have charged the father of a four-year-old child who was discovered trapped inside a car for an hour.
According to a police affidavit, Robert Wall, 46, of South Carolina, is charged with abandoning his daughter inside a parked car on the 3200 block of Ruth Way at the Arcona Strand apartment complex on a steamy evening.
The witness stated in the affidavit that on June 13, at 8:01 p.m., she heard a car alarm while she was on her way to a nearby company. The youngster was confined inside the black BMW as the witness got close to the vehicle.
As temperatures rose to 89 degrees while the police were responding, the witness claimed that the youngster was wailing and drenched in perspiration while being strapped into her seat, according to the police affidavit.
Reaching through the partially opened window, the witness unlocked the car and let the child out. The child’s sole response when asked her name was “I’m thirsty.”
The affidavit states that the witness then persuaded a neighbor to bring her a bottle of water.
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Before the police arrived, the youngster was taken inside 3221 Ruth Way by Wall, the child’s father, who emerged from the building a short while later.
According to the police, Wall chose to leave his sleeping daughter in the car when he arrived at the location at 6:44 p.m. to visit a friend. He lowered the rear windows about 4–6 inches and the front windows about 2–4 inches, then went inside to drink and watch TV.
The affidavit stated that Wall claimed he was keeping an eye on his daughter by peering out the window every five to ten minutes, but he never walked outside to see how she was doing.
Wall’s son didn’t go outside until after onlookers had taken the youngster from the car and informed him they had her.
The auto alarm was said to have been going off for almost fifteen minutes without anyone stepping outside. Wall was unable to respond when asked if he heard the alarm go off.
Wall is charged with a felony of endangering the welfare of minors.
A $5,000 bail keeps Wall incarcerated in Cumberland County Prison while he awaits a preliminary hearing scheduled for July 11.
