Boy, 3, allegedly left in car 8 hours while Mom gambled

"Why is this such a big deal?" a mother asked La Center police while being arrested for allegedly leaving her 3-year-old son locked in her car for more than eight hours while she gambled in a casino, police say.

The 32-year-old woman, who lives in Clackamas, Ore., allegedly was intoxicated when confronted by police Tuesday afternoon.

She was still wondering why she was arrested as a Clark County sheriff's deputy drove her to the jail in Vancouver, said Sgt. Jerry Lester with the La Center Police Department.

The woman was no longer in custody Wednesday evening, a jail employee said.

When found in the car, the boy had soiled his clothing and had a cup of sour milk to sustain him. A security officer on patrol heard him crying in the woman's Lincoln Navigator SUV in a casino parking lot about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lester said.

Lester said the security officer notified his supervisor, who told police.

Employees of the Chips Palace Casino, 318 Old Pacific Highway, used overhead speakers to ask the person who had the Lincoln to come forward. After being paged twice, the woman cashed in her chips, went outside and found officers waiting for her, Lester said.

She said she'd left the boy in the car, Lester said.

"She said she'd checked on the kid every couple of hours and he was sleeping," Lester said.

Security videos indicated she'd arrived in the parking space about 4 a.m. Tuesday, Lester said.

Although police hadn't seen the woman driving the Lincoln, they measured her alcohol level at 0.14, considerably more than the state's DUI threshold of 0.08, Lester said.

Police called for officials with Child Protective Services, who took custody of the toddler.

Alerted by casino employees, officers found the boy sitting in his car seat in the SUV, which was locked, with no window open, Lester said. He didn't appear harmed by his long wait in the warm car, but he was wet and his cup of milk had soured.

"The deputy changed him and got him into fresh undergarments," Lester said.

Casino employees brought the boy a peanut-butter sandwich and some watermelon.

It was a cloudy afternoon and police measured the outside temperature at about 63 degrees.

"Inside my car, with the door open, it was 85 degrees. And it definitely felt warm inside (the woman's SUV)," Lester said.