3 year old left in car

Baton Rouge woman accused of leaving 3-year-old in car at Harvey casino released on bond

A Baton Rouge woman was arrested and booked with child abandonment Friday after leaving her 3-year-old son in a car at a Harvey casino, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand announced.

Erica Williams, 27, 4709 Osborne St. was released on bond from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna today.

Around 11:30 a.m. Friday, emergency dispatchers received a report from Boomtown Casino about a 3-year-old child being left in a car in the casino's parking lot on Peters Road.

When JPSO Officer Brad Stanifer met with security officers, he learned that the boy was brought to the security office by a patron who found the child wandering in the parking lot near a red Infinity. The witness said that the child appeared overheated and had urinated on himself.

Then around 11:50 a.m., Williams apparently checked with the security office to inquire about her missing son. Authorities said she admitted leaving the child in the car around 10:05 a.m., while she went into the casino. When she returned around 11:30 a.m., she realized that he was not in the car.

Williams told investigators she left the keys in the ignition, with the A/C fan on, but not the engine and the window rolled up.

The child was examined by EMS crews and turned over to child protection. He was later placed in the custody of his grandmother who officers summoned to the scene.