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A Bowie woman is facing criminal charges for allegedly leaving her child unattended in a sport utility vehicle parked at an Annapolis area shopping center.
Thirty-seven-year-old Lorraine Fortilage is accused of leaving her 14-month-old daughter strapped inside a SUV while she shopped. The windows were closed and the car was off. Police say the temperature outside was over 90 degrees.
Anne Arundel County police say witnesses reported seeing the child strapped in a child safety seat at the Annapolis Harbour Center. Firefighters broke the rear window to free the child.
Fortilage was charged with child endangerment and released from jail on her own personal recognizance but wasn't answering her door at her home.
"The baby's in the car like this waving her hands, sweating to death," said witness Francesca Davis of Hair Cuttery. She was one of many who ran outside to the parking lot Sunday afternoon at Annapolis Harbor Center after a passerby heard the baby's screams from inside the SUV.
"She look like you put her in a bathtub and brought her back in a car seat, her cheeks were cherry red."
After searching nearby stores, after calling police, and after firefighters used an ax to break open a window to rescue the baby, Davis says she watched the mother, Fortilage, and her sister walk out of the Ulta Beauty store. An hour, police say, after the baby was first discovered.
"You see her walking faster than the sister and then she's like 'oh my God, God, oh my God then says I forgot!'"
"It's good thing police were there to protect her, the mob of people were very angry with her," said Davis.
Fortilage's neighbors back in Bowie reacted to the allegations. "It's sad, it's shocking, it's scary but I learned a long time ago not to judge others."
"You don't know much about your neighbors but you'd like to think that they wouldn't do something like that."
Police say the child had symptoms of dehydration and was sent to Anne Arundel Medical Center.
horror and have your worst nightmare reported to the entire nation.
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