Oak Forest police rescued two young children from a hot car after their mother left them unattended while grocery shopping, police reported.
A 21-year-old Homewood man on Aug. 15 spotted the 3-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother buckled in their car seats inside of a Cadillac Escalade in the parking lot at Food 4 Less, 5556 W. 159th St., according to police.
They said the back windows were rolled down a few inches and the front windows were closed when officers arrived, and the outside temperature was humid and approaching 90 degrees. Police were able to reach through the windows and open the car doors.
The children’s mother, Shelby Vanderjack, returned to the car at 2 p.m., about 25 minutes after police arrived, and told police that she was gone only for 10 minutes and had left the vehicle running with the air conditioning on, police reported.
Store surveillance showed that Vanderjack was inside the store for 45 minutes, and the car was not running when police arrived, according to police.
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Vanderjack, 23, of the 6000 block of Victoria Drive, Oak Forest, was charged with two counts of endangering the life or health of a child. The children were released to their father, police said.
Kate McCann is a freelance reporter.