Mother accused of leaving baby in hot vehicle while she rode a horse, roper rescues baby

A woman from Nebraska is facing a child abuse charge for allegedly leaving her 3-month-old baby in a hot car while she was horseback riding at a county fair.

40-year-old Cara Dugan was arrested at the Merrick County Fairgrounds on August 24 after authorities received a call reporting an infant left in a pickup truck with the engine off and window partially open, as stated by the Merrick County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook.

Dugan was found inside a building riding a horse while it was approximately 90 degrees outside, according to the sheriff’s office.

Meanwhile, Edgar Estrada, a roping contestant at the fair, took action upon hearing a baby cry, as reported by Fox Nebraska.

Estrada acted quickly, mounting his horse and galloping through the parking lot in search of the baby after not finding one in the stands or audience, the report stated.

“I got on my horse to warm it up again, get ready and I started listening to the sounds of a baby crying,” said Estrada. “I instantly got on the horse and ran up and down the parking lot area where the vehicles were at and I was just weaving in and out looking for this crying baby.”

An announcement was made over the loudspeakers and people attending the roping event joined the search for the crying baby, as reported by Fox News. Edgar located the baby in a car after about 10 minutes of searching, pried the window down, and was able to open the door.

Authorities arrived at the scene at 1:30 p.m. and found the infant left unattended in a pickup with the engine off, noting that the windows were only partially open for a significant amount of time.

The child was taken to a local hospital by law enforcement, where it was confirmed that the baby did not suffer any injuries.

The outside temperature was recorded at 89-90 degrees, according to authorities.

The child was placed in the care of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, as stated by the sheriff’s office.

In many tragic cases, babies left in hot cars do not survive.

Recently in Texas, a 9-month-old baby passed away after being left for eight hours in a car seat by the child’s grandmother — a day after a 22-month-old died in a hot car in another part of the state.

There have been at least 25 other cases this year of children dying in hot cars, according to Kids and Car Safety.