Toddler left in car; police warn mother

Bangor police were called Tuesday afternoon to the Broadway Shopping Center parking lot, where a child was found left in a running, unlocked vehicle.

A passer-by noticed a boy crying and screaming in the back seat of a white Cadillac Escalade. The passer-by saw no one else in the car and contacted Bangor police.

Officer Kerry Libby arrived at the scene and found the 3-year-old boy in a child safety seat in the back seat of the passenger’s side of the vehicle. He asked the boy through the vehicle’s open window where his mother was, and the boy replied, “In the store.” Before Libby could have the woman paged, the boy’s mother approached the Cadillac pushing a grocery cart with about 10 bags of groceries.

Libby identified the woman as the boy’s mother and asked her what had possessed her to leave her son in an unlocked vehicle with the keys still in the ignition and the engine running. The woman said she thought her son would be fine because she was only going in the store to buy one or two things.

Libby asked the woman if she thought someone might steal the vehicle with her son in the back seat. She said she “never thought of that.”

Libby did not cite the woman but told her he would forward a copy of his report to the Department of Human Services.

A Hampden man was issued a summons Tuesday for operating a vehicle after suspension and failing to display a current certificate of inspection.

At about 8 a.m., Bangor police Officer Michael Brennan stopped a red Ford Escort traveling on Union Street after noticing its inspection sticker had expired in December 2003. The driver, Bert N. Smith, 28, did not have a license, and Brennan later found out that Smith’s license was suspended in April for administrative reasons.

Smith said he had not gone to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a work permit.

Smith was brought to Penobscot County Jail, where he was issued a summons, and the vehicle was towed. About an hour later, Smith signed the property release forms to retrieve his vehicle. Brennan informed Smith that he would need a licensed driver to take the vehicle.

Brewer police arrested a local woman Monday on charges of drug trafficking and possession.

Sgt. Jason Moffit executed a search warrant at about 5 p.m. at 454 South Main St. in Brewer. The suspect, Jessica Cameron, 20, was charged with trafficking marijuana, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Julia Hall