Keansburg woman charged for leaving baby, dog in vehicle, police say
Middletown police said officers responded at about 3:43 p.m. June 11 to the TJ Maxx parking lot on Route 35 after receiving a report of a baby left unattended in a vehicle.
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A Keansburg woman has been charged with child endangerment and animal cruelty after police said they found a 1-year-old child and a dog left in a vehicle outside a Middletown shopping center.
Middletown police said officers responded to the TJ Maxx parking lot on Route 35 around 3:45 p.m. on June 11 after receiving a report of a baby left unattended in a vehicle. Officers found a 1-year-old boy crying and sweating in the back seat of a vehicle that was not running and did not have air conditioning on, according to police.
Police removed the child from the vehicle and placed him in an air-conditioned patrol car while waiting for an ambulance. The child was later taken to Hackensack Meridian Health Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank for a precautionary evaluation and was subsequently released to his father, authorities said.
The child's mother, 39-year-old Christina Joubert, approached officers and was arrested, police said. Authorities said a pit bull had also been left in the vehicle but escaped through an open window before being secured by bystanders. The dog was later taken into police custody and returned to its owner.
Joubert was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and with animal cruelty. She was held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution pending a detention hearing, police said.
Middletown Township police cited National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data showing that more than 1,000 children have died from heatstroke in the past 25 years after being left in or becoming trapped inside hot vehicles. Police said a child's body temperature can rise three to five times faster than an adult's, making even a short period inside a vehicle potentially life-threatening.
