Couple charged after leaving one-year-old in hot car while they shopped in Manhasset mall

Parents of a 1-year-old boy left in a hot car while they shopped at the Americana Manhasset mall on Tuesday afternoon were arrested and charged with felony reckless endangerment.

A criminal complaint said the baby, at the time he was rescued by police, was turning red, "breathing heavily, sweating profusely and at grave risk of death." He was in good condition Wednesday, police said.

The boy’s father, Jingcai Zhou, 34, a salesperson from Flushing, was arraigned Wednesday morning in First District Court in Hempstead and released without bail. He was ordered to attend parenting classes and "refrain from any acts to put the child in danger."

His wife, Lu Lu, 28, a flight attendant, was released following her arraignment Wednesday afternoon and also ordered to attend parenting classes.

Both were charged with felony reckless endangerment and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child. Zhou's attorney declined to comment.

After her appearance, Lu ran out of court crying and covering her head with a sweatshirt.

Neither she nor her Legal Aid attorney, William Riggin, answered questions from reporters.

A man who didn't give his name and identified himself as a family friend said: "She's a good mom."

Riggin said in court that Lu has no prior arrests and lives in Flushing while her husband worked in Queens.

Prosecutors said the Queens Administration for Children’s Services had started removal proceedings.

The baby, who was locked in the car for an hour during a day when temperatures were in the low 80s, was released to family members.

Police said the couple had set a 25-minute timer to check on the baby while he was sleeping in the locked car. The couple had returned to the car twice in front of London Jewelers while their son was in the car, but left a second time before police arrived.

Police had been called after two people who passed the 2019 Mercedes-Benz in the parking lot of the Americana shopping mall about 2:40 p.m. saw the baby crying in the locked car.

Police said the engine was off and the window was cracked about 1 inch.

Officers tried to open the window with a lock kit, but eventually had to use the handle of a knife to shatter the window to rescue the baby, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.

The baby was taken inside a nearby store to recover in air conditioning before he was taken to a hospital for observation.

"If not for the civilians and actions of our officers acting quickly, there’s no doubt that child would be in critical (condition) due to the temperature," Ryder said. "You’ve seen what the temperature can do to your own, imagine what it does to the body of a 1-year-old child.

"If you leave a 1-year-old child alone for 30 seconds the world changes. They thought it was OK to leave him alone for 25 minutes," Ryder said. "I guess they were too busy shopping to care about their 1-year-old child."

Last year, 25 children died nationally from hot car deaths, Ryder said. So far this year, 11 children have died from being left in hot cars.

"Nassau PD officers are heroes yet again, and I'm relieved that they were alerted in time to rescue the child," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. "It doesn't take a long time for a car to reach deadly hot temperatures on an 80 degree day, and it takes even less time for there to be risk of heat stroke for children."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.com,joan.gralla@newsday.comJohnAsbury,

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.