Police: Mother held child outside window of vehicle

Thursday, October 11, 2007

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Chrisitina Adams was charged with felony child abuse.

Christina Adams was charged with felony child abuse.

PINELLAS PARK (Bay News 9) -- A Pinellas Park mother remained in jail Thursday afternoon on $5,000 bond after police said she held her 5-year-old son outside of an SUV because he was causing a disturbance.

The incident began just before midnight Wednesday on 43rd Street North in Pinellas Park and ended with the arrest of 27-year-old Christina Adams.

Witnesses said they watched in shock as Adams at some points forced the child to run beside the car to keep up.

"To hang a child out of a moving vehicle like that is absurd," witness Victor Concepcion said. "Just holding the baby out of the window and I was like 'Oh no ... no ... no.'

"So I walked out to the end of the street. They stopped the truck. She sets the kid down and grabs the kid's hand. They start driving away again and the kid's running, trying to keep up with the vehicle."

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Minutes after Concepcion called 911, Pinellas Park police arrived at the corner of 66th Avenue and 43rd Street North.

"It was dispatched out to officers in the area to be on the lookout for a vehicle that had a child hanging from the outside of the passenger window," captain Sanfield Forseth of the Pinellas Park police said.

"The cops had stopped them," Concepcion said. "She got out and she was urinating on the side of his car and she was screaming and yelling obscenities."

After questioning Concepcion and another witness, police arrested Adams. She's charged with felony child abuse.

Victor Concepcion couldn't believe what he was witnessing.

"She was not tested to find out what her level was, but we are pretty sure she was under the influence of alcohol at the time," Forseth said about Adams.

Adams made her first court appearance Thursday afternoon. The judge allowed bond for her on two conditions, she have no contact at all with her son until the Department of Family Services has fully investigated the case and says otherwise, and no alcohol consumption at all.

Concepcion said two other adults were also in the car with Adams. The driver, who police said could face charges for negligence, and another passenger in the backseat. The child was not injured and is in the custody of his uncle.

Adams has been booked by police before. In 1998 she was arrested on criminal mischief charges, and in 2001 she faced charges of disorderly intoxication.

You can watch this story at your convenience on Bay News 9 on Demand, channel 342 on Bright House Networks digital cable

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