Police search for man who left daughter in car for second time

SALISBURY, N.C. — A father wanted for leaving his 1-year-old child in the car while he worked out the gym was just arrested. Police said people recognized him and saw his daughter left alone again.

Police got a call to a Salisbury Ford dealership Tuesday afternoon saying the man they'd been looking for was there.

Police in Salisbury had been looking for Keiyenne Hijin since February when they said he left his daughter in his car while he worked out at a gym.

(Keiyenne Hijin)

They went to the dealership Tuesday and found his daughter alone in the car again.

“The car was running, the windows were halfway down, the doors were unlocked,” Capt. Sheila Lingle said.

The girl was in the car for about 20 minutes and there was a portable toilet next to her that had been used, she said.

One officer took Hijin to the magistrate to serve the warrant from February, while another officer stayed and waited for the girl's mother.

By the time that second officer got to the magistrate's office to take out another warrant, Hijin had signed a promise to appear in court and was released.

“They came to obtain warrants on this one, but he had been released and already left,” Lingle said.

One of Hijin’s neighbors has not seen him much.

“How (do) they keep losing him?” Tonya, who didn’t want her last name released, said. “That's what I don't understand. How they keep losing him?”

The charges are misdemeanors and Hijin is set to appear in court on June 6 on the first charge.

Cox Media Group