Nebraska mother leaves 3-month-old baby in hot car to go horseback riding

A Nebraska woman has been arrested for leaving her baby in a scorching car while she went horseback riding, officials said.

Cara Dugan, 40, was charged with leaving her 3-month-old baby unattended in a vehicle when outside temperatures were 90-90 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday.

According to the Merrick County Sheriff’s Office, they were called to the Merrick County Fairgrounds after a citizen heard the baby crying.

Dugan allegedly left the baby in a pickup truck with the engine off and the windows only partially open for a “considerable period of time.”

Police said they found Dugan riding a horse in a building at the fairgrounds and arrested her for child abuse.

Cara Dugan, 40, was charged after leaving her 3-month-old baby unattended in a car on a 90-degree day

Police said she left the baby in a car at the Merrick County Fairgrounds (pictured) and was riding a horse when they arrested her.

The baby was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined there were no injuries. The child was placed in the care of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the U.S. government, an average of 37 children under the age of 15 die each year from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle. National Security Council.

So far in 2024, 27 deaths have been reported and more than 1,000 children have died in these incidents over the past three decades.

Last week, a nine-month-old baby died in a hot car in Texas after his grandmother left him in it for eight hours.

The unidentified baby was found by their grandmother, who was seen by police shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday holding the unconscious child in her arms.

The baby had been in the car outside the East Flournoy family’s home since 8:30 a.m.

Preliminary investigation revealed that “the child’s grandmother had left the child in a child seat in the backseat of her car,” the statement said.

A six-month-old baby was fried to death in Arizona after being “forgotten” in a hot car for seven hours.

Travis Carter Jr (pictured), six months old, burned in Arizona after being ‘forgotten’ in a hot car for seven hours

The baby’s mother, Aleesia Phillips (pictured with her eldest child), asked a teenage neighbor to drop the baby off at his father’s house after she left for work

Travis Carter Jr. was found unresponsive in the backseat of a neighbor’s home in Cordes Lakes, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Phoenix, on July 30.

Earlier that day, the boy’s mother, Aleesia Phillips, had enlisted the help of a teenage neighbor to drive her to Prescott Valley.

Phillips took Travis in the backseat and after he fell asleep, she asked the neighbor to drop the baby off at his father’s house while she went to work.

The neighbor arrived home around 2 p.m., next door to the boy’s father, Travis Carter, but did not take them inside.

Instead, “they parked the car in the blazing sun and went inside, pretending to have forgotten the baby in the car,” police said.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation, arrested the neighbors and charged them with manslaughter.