Utah mother arrested for punishing her 4-year-old son by shutting him in a hot truck

A Utah woman who put her 4-year-old son in a hot truck as punishment has been arrested and put in a jail cell.

The 28-year-old mother told Draper police at about 9 p.m. Tuesday that the boy was “acting out” so she placed him in the vehicle with the doors and windows shut. According to a probable cause statement, it was about 82 degrees at the time at Draper City Park, where the truck was parked. And when the officer removed the boy from the car his head was “hot to the touch,” he was “sweating” and he had “puffy eyes.”

Police said the woman told them she had been using meth and heroin, and that the boy was found next to a used syringe and the other drug paraphernalia.

The woman was booked into the Salt Lake County jail for investigation of child endangerment and child abuse and neglect.