No bond for mother after 3-year-old left in car for hours

No bond has been set for a south Fulton County mother facing a child cruelty charge after police said she left her 3-year-old son in a locked car for three hours.

Lillian Stone, 25, waived her first appearance hearing Wednesday, according to Channel 2 Action News.

Stone was questioned for nearly seven hours and taken to the county jail late Tuesday, the news station reported.

One of Stone’s family members told Channel 2 on Wednesday: “She’s a great mother, and this is a mistake.”

About 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Fulton police received a call about a child in a car in the 6800 block of Smoke Ridge Drive near College Park, Cpl. Maureen Smith said.

The child was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding. It is unclear whether he will survive, authorities told Channel 2.

Stone is due back in court Nov. 15.

Details on what exactly happened have not been released, but the child’s injuries were heat-related, Smith said.

The high was 72 degrees in Atlanta on Tuesday, according to Channel 2. It was not clear how hot it was inside the vehicle.

Recent studies, however, have found that the temperature inside a closed vehicle can reach dangerous — and potentially fatal — levels for children in a short amount of time even in mild weather.

Testing by Consumer Reports showed that even when it was 61 degrees outside, the temperature inside a closed car reached more than 105 degrees in just one hour.

“Temperatures that might seem comfortable for adults can quickly become dangerous for children,” said Dr. Orly Avitzur, the medical director for Consumer Reports.