4-year-old girl found safe inside van that sat in tow lot for 8 hours

Tow truck operators loaded up the vehicle and transported it to a city lot.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that a mother had been pulled over on suspicion of drunk en driving and taken into custody; a 10-month-old child was taken out of the minivan before it was removed from the road.

But, apparently, no one noticed a 4-year-old girl who was still inside the van.

The preschooler spent about eight hours trapped inside the vehicle at the tow lot in the early morning hours Tuesday, when temperatures dropped as low as 19 degrees. It wasn’t until about 8:30 a.m. that some- oneheardher crying, according to the Journal Sentinel.

“Obviously this is something that’s alarming to us,” Milwaukee City Engineer Jeff Polenske said, according to the newspaper. “We defifinitely don’t want this to happen.”

Polenske said during a news conference that “apparently the girl was obviously very upset and crying — something that none of us would like to have happen to any of our children.”

Polenske said the fire department was called to the scene to examine the girl, who was in “okay” condition; she was transported to ahospital for further evaluation.

Sgt. Sheronda Grant, a spokeswoman with the Milwaukee Police Department, said in a statement Wednesday that the police department is “grateful that the child was located unharmed.”

Grant said the department is “currently seeking criminal charges against the driver who was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated. We will provide additional information in the upcoming days regarding this investigation.”

The details surrounding the case are still unclear. Law enforcement offifficials have not released the driver’s name or said who has custody of the child.

According to the Milwaukee Police Department’ s standard operating procedures, “to wed vehicles shall be thoroughly searched( including boats, trailers, mobile homes, etc.) for items of apparent value.”