Police: Parents face charges after they left child in hot car

GASTONIA, N.C. — Two Gaston County parents face serious charges Monday.
 
They're accused of leaving their 6-month-old baby boy alone in a hot car while they went shopping and got a haircut.
 
Eyewitness reporter Ken Lemon was in the courtroom as the mother told the judge the allegations are not true.
Kristin Sherrill cried as she pleaded with the judge.
 
"How could I forget about my 6-month-old baby?" Sherrill said.
 
But police said Sherrill and the child's father, Zachary Mitchell, left their son in a hot car Friday at Akers Shopping Center, in Gastonia.
 
It was 88 degrees outside when she went shopping for clothes, police said.
 
"When I got out, my son was in the car with his father," she said.
 
Police said Mitchell left the car to get a haircut.
 
Jason Farmer works nearby and saw the baby in the car with the windows rolled up.
 
"The baby's face was as red as a brick, screaming, screaming," he said.
 
He called 911 and medics took the baby to a hospital.
Emergency crews fanned out and went from shop to shop until they found the parents. The baby's great-grandfather is outraged.
 
"You forget a bag of groceries in a car, but you don't forget a child," Mike Sherrill said.
 
He said two months ago, Kristin Sherrill was charged with child abuse for driving while impaired with her child in the car.
 
He said the courts should have taken custody from the parents then.

"It makes me heartbroken. Not just from my great-grandson but for all the grandsons and children out there."

The baby is out of the hospital and in the custody of social services.

WSOC