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3-year-old left in car; mother is arrested
By KATHERINE GAZELLA
© St. Petersburg Times, TARPON SPRINGS -- An intoxicated woman left her 3-year-old son in a car for an hour or two late Sunday night when she went into the Bridge Lounge bar, and the boy later was found wearing soiled pants and perspiring heavily in the car, police said. Police arrested Georgia Woodland, 38, on charges of child neglect and disorderly intoxication. Woodland, of 256 Jeru Blvd. in Tarpon Springs, was being held Tuesday at the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $20,250 bail. Witnesses told police Woodland was intoxicated when she arrived at the bar about 11 p.m. Sunday and was not served at the bar, which is at 1056 N Pinellas Ave. Witnesses said they later learned that her child was in the car with a window cracked about a quarter of an inch. They got him out, then called a taxi to take Woodland and the boy home. Police said Woodland was so intoxicated that she could not tell the driver her address and could provide only vague and incorrect directions to the house. The driver took the boy to the bar and left him with a friend while Woodland was taken to the Tarpon Springs Police Department, police said. Tarpon Springs Police Capt. Ron Holt said children should never be left alone in cars and that the potential dangers are more than just exposure to heat. A child can be taken from the car or the car can be stolen with the child still inside, he said. "There's just a host of things that can go wrong," he said. "You never leave a kid in a car." The boy did not require hospital treatment and was released to the Department of Children and Families. - Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
