[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
An 18-year-old mother was intent on watching the new Smurfs movie — so much so that she allegedly locked her 2-year-old in the car, alone, so as not to be disturbed in the theater.
According to multiple reports, teenage mother Tripura Merriex (pictured above in her mugshot) was arrested in Lake City, Florida back on Saturday and charged with neglect of a child without bodily harm. Cops there say the mom left her 2-year-old daughter unattended in her 2022 Cadillac Escalade outside a Regal Cinema theater in the city on Saturday to go inside and watch the Smurfs movie.
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Officers were called after passersby in the parking lot reported a child was locked in the vehicle. A press release sent out by the Lake City Police Department after Merriex’s arrest noted:
“Upon arrival, officers located the vehicle with a two-year-old child visibly distressed inside. Officers immediately broke the driver’s side window to remove the child, who appeared flushed, sweating, and crying.”
The release further noted that upon discovering the child, officers logged the outside temperature at 94 degrees — with a heat index of 107.
Holy s**t…
Police believe the little girl was inside the car alone for at least half an hour. She was rushed to a local medical center for treatment. And thankfully, she survived.
Immediately, cops began searching for the car’s owner, and it wasn’t long until they landed on Merriex. The press release stated that the young mother initially brought the little girl into the theater to see the film, but became annoyed when the girl wouldn’t stop crying:
“After multiple disruptions in the theater, Merriex removed her child and left her unattended inside a locked vehicle while returning to the theater.”
When cops confronted the teen mom, she had “a very nonchalant demeanor as her child was in the locked vehicle,” per her arrest report. Tripura’s story was that she “accidentally” locked the girl in the Escalade. Officers noted in their report that she “acted as though the whole situation wasn’t a big deal as she just stood next to her vehicle.”
WTF!!!
As the report goes, Merriex decided to take the child out to the car because she’d been creating a disturbance in the theater. At first, the young mom reportedly went out to check on the girl a few times. But before long, Tripura started enlisting the other people who had gone to the movie with her to do it for her. The arrest report stated:
“After a few trips of Mrs. Merriex going out to her vehicle, the other two individuals that she had come into the cinema with started alternating out on every other trip. Witnesses confirmed Merriex remained inside the building while the child remained alone in extreme heat conditions.”
Police also tracked down Merriex’s husband, who apparently was not at the theater during the incident. During an interview, he told them that Tripura has “a history of very un-rational decision making when it came to her dealing with their daughter’s crying,” as well as “negative reactions to stress related to being a parent” and problems with “patience.”
Uh, yeah. No kidding…
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Now, Merriex is being held on a $50,000 bond on the child neglect charge.
Lake City Police Chief Gerald Butler released this statement following the arrest, too:
“Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle under these conditions is unacceptable. We are thankful the child is safe and urge all parents to prioritize the well-being of their children at all times.”
We can’t even imagine what that child had to go through. We’re just glad she’s alive.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Lake City Police Department]
The post Teen Mom Trying To Watch <i>Smurfs</i> Movie In Peace Locks Crying 2-Year-Old In Hot Car appeared first on Perez Hilton.
