Five-year-old left in family car for five hours

LUFKIN – A five-year-old was reportedly left in a car for nearly five hours after the driver and family members went to a Houston sporting event, the Lufkin Police Department said.

According to reports from our news partner, KETK, officers were dispatched to the 100 block of N. Timberland Drive at around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday after receiving a report of a child behind left in a vehicle.

“The officers could not get the child to respond to knocks on the window, so they broke the driver’s side window and removed the child, who was taken to a local hospital to be examined,” the police department said.

Police learned that the child was accidentally left in the vehicle after the driver and other family members were going to Houston for a sporting event and met in the parking lot of a business to gather into one vehicle. The child was supposed to be dropped off with Lufkin family members, however the person driving allegedly forgot the child was still in the car. The driver has since been arrested and booked into the Angelina County Jail for abandonment of a child with intent to return.