PUYALLUP, Wash — Charges will not be filed against a mother who left her 1-year-old child in a hot car outside Puyallup's MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, resulting in the child's death in May of 2023.
In a memo obtained by KING 5, the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett wrote that as she reviewed the case, she does "not have any doubt that the baby was unknowingly left in the car." The woman was exhausted, recovering from COVID-19 and was "anxious and preoccupied about her new job," the memo reads.
On May 24, 2023, the woman said she dropped children off at multiple locations on her way to work. The memo notes she had a change in routine that resulted in her purse being in the front seat instead of the back seat. When she parked her vehicle, she was running late for work and used a backup camera instead of looking over her shoulder - and potentially seeing the child in the seat.
As she parked, she was also distracted by colleagues in the parking lot, the memo notes.
"She literally forgot that she did not drop the baby at day care as she had planned," according to the memo.
The temperature outside was in the 70s, but it was more than 100 degrees inside the car, according to police detectives at the time.
In further considering whether to file charges, Robnett reviewed the only other case of this kind handled by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office. In that case, a woman was out all night. When she returned home, it was discovered she intentionally left her child sleeping in the car so as not to wake the baby. She then fell asleep only to wake up hours later and find the child dead.
The woman was charged with manslaughter, but was acquitted. The memo notes the person in this case was more culpable than the mother involved in the 2023 incident.
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