Tanning trip puts mother in pokey

[Editor-in-Chief]

Tanning trip puts mother in pokey
06/28/2007

By Melissa Wilson
Staff Writer
melissa.wilson@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE - A Lawrenceville woman said she gasped when she and other tanning salon patrons discovered a child left in a car outside the business.

"I came out from getting a tan myself and I saw, like, two other women crowded around this car," said Karen Iocco. "And they said, 'There's a baby in there' and I said, 'No way.'"

According to a police report, 20-year-old Crystal Britt of Dacula left her 3-month-old boy in the car while she went into Sun City Tan on Grayson Highway to lie in a tanning bed.

Iocco said she felt compelled to call 911 after finding the child inside the vehicle. Iocco said she and another couple pulled their trucks in front of and behind Britt's car - which was parked in the fire lane - trapping her in until police arrived.

According to a warrant for Britt's arrest, the mother left the child inside her Toyota Corolla for about 15 minutes.

Iocco said a salon employee and a woman from a store next door tried to get Britt to come out of the tanning room she was in but were unsuccessful.

The report said Britt did come out of the business and admitted to leaving the child in the car, but said she left the car running and the doors locked. According to the report, the outside temperature between 3 and 3:30 p.m., the time the child was left in the car, was between 80 and 90 degrees.

Britt was arrested outside the salon and taken to the Gwinnett County Jail and charged with first-degree cruelty to children. The child was released to his godmother, the report said.

Messages were left at the number provided by Britt on the police report, but calls were not returned.

Lawrenceville Police Department Spokesman Capt. Greg Vaughn said this type of incident was the first of its type this year. Vaughn said he has never heard of an incident of this nature in the time has been with the Lawrenceville department.

"How can you give someone like this advice?" Vaughn said of the incident. "You don't do that sort of thing. I've heard of kids left in cars in Atlanta and people taking off with them, and fortunately that didn't happen here."

Although rare, Gwinnett County Police Department Spokesman Cpl. Darren Moloney said county officers have seen incidents in which children have died while left alone in hot cars when temperatures are high.

"We have seen situations like that," Moloney said of heat-related child deaths. "But nothing recent this year."

As far as discouraging parents and care givers from leaving children unattended in vehicles, Moloney said this he hopes would be understood.

"We would hope certain things would be common sense," Moloney said.

Britt bonded out of the Gwinnett County Jail on Tuesday on a $3,400 bond, according to jail records.

Source

[Jim Fisher]

Rick
Whats your policy on having children in the rooms?

[sunsally]

This is Sun City Tan in GA, not a Sun Tan City.

This is not one of Rick's stores.

[Alan @ TanToday]

Some people are just plain stupid. The car was running so the kid had some A/C but was breathing in carbon monoxide. That makes it all better.

And these people are the future of our country.

[frankie]

Jim sometimes post before he looks at the whole picture.

[raynchris]

One of the biggest things, regardless of fumes being breathed in, is the fact it was running. If some thug happened to pass by and saw the running car, all he'd have to do is break the window and drive away. There goes her car and her kid.
I think her brain must have melted in whomever's tanning bed she was using !

[Wicked1]

Some people are just plain crazy or just really stupid. Leave the kid with a sitter, or someone else not in a freaking car. What is more important your kid or the tan... I wonder. Now I organise for my kids to be at a sitter when I want to do something or I just don't do it. I do allow children in my salon as long as the parent brings them a drink and some munchies a book or toy to keep them occupied. I have thought about giving the kids a duster and vacuum to clean for me...

[raynchris]

Originally Posted by Wicked1

I have thought about giving the kids a duster and vacuum to clean for me...

Cheap help, I like it !

[blondjuls]

One of my employees always keeps the kids busy helping her roll towels...they actually just want attention, so it works out well.

I'm not a huge kid person, they're cute from a distance...but my employees are good with them. As long as they are old enough to sit in the lobby and watch tv or read a book or whatever, I don't have a problem with them coming in.

But people need to leave their babies with someone else. You dont leave a baby with strangers to watch, or ask if you can take them in a room with you (hello? you have to wear special eyewear to protect you) or leave them to swealter in the car. Some people just don't need to have the option to have kids.

[Wicked1]

So I figure they are small enough they can get into small spaces. Maybe I should start making them dust.. better than being in a car..

[W8INLINE]

What a dumb mother.....funny thing is that this happens quite a bit.... hey Alan, maybe that mother was on steroids