THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605190047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Two young children were taken to a hospital Saturday night after they were found locked in a closed-up van at a shopping center. Their father was being questioned late Saturday, police said.
Neither child was ill, but they did appear to be unconscious when a passerby spotted them in the van parked at the Haygood Shopping Center off Independence Boulevard about 7:45 p.m.
The citizen went to the Third Precinct headquarters to report the situation and a police car was sent to the area. Officer Shawn Walther tried to rouse the children by banging on the windows. When neither child responded, he used a door-unlocking device to get into the van.
The children, ages 3 and 8, then awoke. It was unclear if they were merely asleep or if they had been overcome by heat.
Police located the father a short time later and determined that the children had been locked in the van about a half-hour while their father went to a car show at the shopping center.
The children were taken to Sentara Bayside Hospital for checkups and were then released to their mother. Police said the father could face charges, but that no decision had been made by late Saturday.
The names of the children and their father were not immediately released. by CNB