A pediatrician in Bakersfield was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of leaving her two young children inside an unattended van while she saw patients at a medical office.
A local worker alerted police after hearing the 2-year-old boy and 9-month-old girl, CNN reported.
The kids were found inside a van parked behind a medical office off Centennial Plaza Way, Bakersfield Police Department Sgt. Gary Carruesco told local television station KBAK.
Both kids were checked out and would be OK, Carruesco said, adding that Kaitlyn’s Law states children must be 12 years or older to be left in a car.
“Even that age, with the heat being the way it is in Kern County, you know, and the cold, you just never know the temperatures inside of a car and how fast bad things can happen,” Carruesco said.
The mother was identified by KBAK as 34-year-old Christie Chu, a contracted pediatrician who was seeing patients at the location at the time of the incident.
Police planned to release the children to their father, but were unable to after finding the living conditions at the home to be “unsuitable,” Carruesco said.
Instead, the children were taken into protective custody, CNN reported.
