Court status
Janina Joseph, 22, faces a felony child-neglect charge in Miami-Dade County after authorities found her 1-year-old daughter alone in a vehicle, according to Local 10 News. Joseph was arrested Friday at 9:30 p.m. and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. She appeared in bond court Saturday, where Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson set bond at $2,500. She was released Sunday, the station reported.
Police account
Miami Gardens police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to a parking lot at 20401 NW 2nd Ave. after the child was reported alone in the car, according to the police report cited by Local 10. Fire-rescue personnel opened the vehicle to reach the toddler. Police later found Joseph inside a beauty salon on the building’s second floor, where she said she had gone to have her hair done.
The child showed no reported injuries and was turned over at the scene to her father, who arrived there, according to the same report. The account of the rescue, Joseph’s location and the child’s release comes from Local 10’s reporting of police records.
Child-welfare and statutory context
Miami Gardens police also filed a report with the Florida Department of Children and Families, according to Local 10. The criminal case is proceeding in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
Florida Statute § 316.6135 addresses children left unattended in vehicles. It permits law-enforcement officers to use necessary means to remove a child from a vehicle and addresses releasing the child to a parent or legal guardian when one is present at the scene.
