RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. – A Jacksonville mother was arrested after she was accused of leaving her children unattended in a running semitruck for hours, according to the Riviera Beach Police Department.
Police were called to a truck stop to respond to reports about a semitruck that was parked at a gas pump for three hours.
When officers arrived, a 16-year-old boy, a 5-year-old girl and a 20-month-old girl were sitting inside the running truck that was parked.
The teen told police that he couldn’t move the truck before stepping outside with his 5-year-old sister. They told officers that the 20-month-old was still inside the truck.
When the officer went to get the child out of the truck, they also saw an unsecured handgun on the floorboard between the driver’s and passenger’s seats.
RBPD tracked down the mother, 36-year-old TorQuita Griffin, and a 26-year-old man, whom police called a couple.
Griffin said the gun was hers and told police that the two had left to get food and were only gone for about an hour.
She was charged with three counts of child abuse, unsafe storage of a firearm, and two counts of child neglect.
The truck stop cited the man for trespassing.
The Department of Children and Families is investigating.
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