Mother, boyfriend accused of leaving 2-year-old alone in car while they drank at Florida bar
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on February 5, 2025
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(EDGEWATER, Fla.) — A woman called 911 to report a toddler left alone in a vehicle outside a Florida bar before the mother of the child and her boyfriend were arrested for child neglect, according to newly released audio.
The Edgewater Police Department released the audio of the 911 call along with the body camera footage Monday of what they had called a “disgusting” incident.
The child’s mother, 35-year-old Kristina Vitucci, and her boyfriend, 39-year-old Joshua Harris, were both arrested after Vitucci’s 2-year-old daughter was left in an unlocked vehicle while they sat inside an Edgewater bar drinking for nearly two hours on Jan. 28, according to police.
“I don’t know that there’s an actual emergency, but there’s a baby out here in a car by itself,” the 911 caller can be heard telling the dispatcher.
“I just don’t want anybody to get mad at me. But I just, you know, this is wrong,” the caller said.
“Yeah, I agree,” the dispatcher said.
An officer responded at approximately 8:15 p.m. and reported that the child had been crying in the vehicle and it was unknown where her parent was, according to the body camera footage.
Upon arriving at the vehicle a few minutes later, Harris told officers that he owned the car and that the child’s mother was inside the bar, the body camera footage shows.
When Vitucci subsequently came outside of the bar to the parking lot, an officer told her, “You’ve got an idea of why we’re here,” the footage shows.
“Yeah, she said.
The officer told Vitucci her daughter was fine and to stay with him, as police continued to question the couple about the incident.
They were both arrested for child neglect, a third-degree felony.
Vitucci is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 18 and Harris on Feb. 25, court records show.
ABC News has reached out to their public defenders for comment.
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