Anne Arundel County police responded to a call Tuesday and found a 6-year-old child left locked in a snow-covered vehicle.
The child was left in a car in the parking lot of a Best Buy in Hanover, Maryland for about an hour and a half before officials arrived. Police responded around 6 p.m. after receiving a call from a witness.
According to officials the van was covered with snow.
The little boy figured out how to unlock the door and let himself out of the van. Police then took him inside of a police car and tried to locate the vehicle’s owner over the Best Buy intercom.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. the child’s mother and grandfather came back to the van where the mother told officials that the child’s grandfather was supposed to be watching the boy. The grandfather had apparently driven the child to the mall earlier to pick up the child’s mother.
Authorities contacted the Criminal Investigation Division Child Abuse Unit and Child Protective Services and arrested the grandfather, 47-year-old Juan Carlos Calva Diaz. Diaz, of Columbia, Maryland, is charged with confining an unattended child under 8 years old and neglect of a minor.
The 6-year-old was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center to be examined. He is expected to be fine.