A mother was charged after leaving her infant son behind in a Target parking lot, police say
The 27-year-old woman from Acton, Maine, told police that she "believed that one of her friends had secured her son in his rear-facing car seat."
A 27-year-old woman from Maine has been charged after leaving her 17-month-old son in a shopping cart in a Target parking lot in Easton over the weekend, according to police.
Taylor Perdue, of Acton, was charged with abandonment/endangerment of a child, police said. She will be arraigned at a later date.
The infant was discovered alone by a customer around 1 p.m. Saturday, according to police. The customer then stayed with him until officers arrived.
The boy did not appear to be injured, police said, but he was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton for an evaluation.
While Easton police were investigating the incident, a man called around 2 p.m. to report that the infant had been left behind accidentally, according to police. The man said he was with the boy’s mother in Plymouth and that they were returning to Easton.
“In subsequently speaking with detectives, Perdue said that after leaving Target she returned to her vehicle, along with three friends, and believed that one of her friends had secured her son in his rear-facing car seat,” police said in a release. “She then traveled to Plymouth in her vehicle, while her friends left in a separate vehicle. Upon arriving in Plymouth, Perdue realized that her son was not in the car seat.”
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, in coordination with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, investigated the incident and, later in the evening, granted custody of the boy to Perdue.
