Alabama woman charged after police say she abandoned her two children in hospital parking lot
Published 11:01 am Wednesday, November 8, 2023
An Alabama woman was arrested after police say she abandoned her two children in the parking lot of a Florida hospital.
The Dothan, Alabama, woman is charged with two counts of unlawful desertion of a child/child neglect after leaving two children at the Destin Emergency Room parking lot August 14th around 10:30 p.m. and driving away.
Staff put the children in a room for safety.
One told Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies that 34-year old Erica Cook had asked for the child to change an infant’s diaper in a car while it was in motion and he refused.
He says she then told him and another child in the car they needed to help her get gas money.
When the pair got out in the parking lot and walked towards the front doors of the Destin ER, Cook left.
Nurses say she returned a few moments later and was told the children were in a room. She left a second time and did not return.