A city mom, who was arrested after cops said she left her two toddlers in her locked vehicle while she got her nails done, was granted time to hire a lawyer, according to the Connecticut Post.
Tiffany Covington asked Superior Court Judge William Holden during a brief court appearance on Tuesday morning for a continuance of her case while she arranges to hire a lawyer. The judge agreed and continued the case to August 25.
Covington, who posted a $75,000 bond previously, declined comment as she left the Golden Hill Street courthouse. The 28-year-old Eagle Street native was charged with two counts of risk of injury to a child, and one count each of assault on a public safety officer and interfering with police after her two sons, aged 4 and 1, were found unconscious in the backseat of her vehicle.
Toddlers appeared unconscious in the back seat of the hot car
According to Bridgeport police, they were dispatched to the Price Rite parking lot on Boston Avenue shortly after 5 p.m. on June 18 for a complaint of two toddlers being left unattended in the back of a car.
Police said officers found the silver Honda sedan with its windows rolled up and the ignition turned off. The two young children appeared unconscious in the car's back seat and not visibly breathing, according to WTNH.
Police said firefighters responded to the scene and broke open the car to rescue the kids. Cops said medics managed to revive the two toddlers, and were both taken to Bridgeport Hospital for evaluation.
Per authorities, it was more than 70 degrees in the car at the time of the rescue, and there was no air motion inside. No food or water had been left for the kids as well. Police added that Covington walked out of the nearby nail salon about five minutes later. According to the cops, she told officers that she had been inside the salon getting her nails painted.
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Toddlers fortunate they did not die in the hot car
Officers said Covington became combative when she was approached and arrested by police. She punched one of them in the chest, knocking off the cop's body camera, before attempting to flee the scene. When an officer managed to bring Covington to the ground, she fought with them. She was biting the officers' hands when they tried to arrest her.
Covington was fortunate that police got to her two toddlers in time and that they did not die in the hot car. According to the nonprofit child safety organization Kids and Car Safety, 38 children die on average in a hot car-related death each year in the United States. The organization has reported that more than 1,000 kids have died in hot cars since 1990.
