Baby Fighting for Her Life After Being Left Inside Hot Car - KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com |

Baby Fighting for Her Life After Being Left Inside Hot Car

By Jen Kastner
NewsWest 9

ANDREWS COUNTY- A baby in Andrews struggling for her life after police say her mother forgot her in at hot car.

At about 3:45PM this past Monday, officers responded to a call that a 10 month-old baby was pulled out of a vehicle after having been left alone in it for up to an hour.

Sheriff Sam Jones tells NewsWest 9 that earlier in the day, the mother, 20 year-old Elisa Meza, was driving around a car of full of family members, including her baby. She then got a call from the Stanley Ford dealership about a car she'd been interested in. She was told she could come in to test drive it.

She then reportedly dropped family members off at their homes.

"It's believed that one person felt that the child was with another relative and that relative thought the other relative had the child and it was just a lot of confusion," Jones said.

Meza drove to the dealership and took the new car out with an employee for about an hour. While driving around, she suddenly realized her baby girl was in the backseat of her own vehicle back at the dealership.

"It was my understanding that when she realized the baby had been left in the car that she was in a hurry and actively trying to get back to the dealership. [I] also believe that the salesperson that was with her was actively trying to contact the dealership and get some people out there to the car," Jones said.

Dealership employees tell NewsWest 9 the baby was retrieved from the vehicle but was unresponsive. They took her to a couch inside the lobby and tried resuscitating her. They had no luck.

Emergency workers rushed her to the Permian Regional Medical Center where she was then flown to Lubbock for further treatment.

NewsWest 9 spoke with the hospital on Friday and learned the child has been staying in the Intensive Care Unit and is in critical condition and on life-support.

The mother was arrested on Monday and charged with injury to a child. She has since posted bond.

Officers are still investigating the situation and tell NewsWest 9 any additional charges she may face depend on the baby's medical outcome.