Mother Arrested For Murder Of 1-Year-Old Baby

Mother Arrested For The Murder Of Her 1-Year-Old Baby

A mother has been charged with murder after being accused of leaving her 1-year-old child in a hot car. Here's what we know

Police Line Do Not Cross - Police tape crime scene picture — Source: N/A / n/a

A mother has been charged with murder after being accused of leaving her 1-year-old child in a hot car.

One of her coworkers called 911; police believed this mother was more overwhelmed than anything. She told police she went to work the prior day at the hospital and forgot that her baby boy was in the back seat. A one-year-old boy was found alone in the backseat of a hot car in the Northside of Gwinnett Hospital parking lot for 9 hours on Wednesday. Police say the baby never made it out alive. Detectives say 29-year-old Deja Coleman took her two other kids into daycare that morning and left the baby boy behind while she went to work at the hospital.

A lady on the scene of the incident told news sources. “ I don’t know how you forget anything like that.”

The baby was found slumped in the back seat by a hospital employee walking to her car and called 911. Off-duty officers working at the hospital broke the window in 3 minutes, but it was too late; Lawrenceville police say the car was still 117 degrees a full hour after they responded.

Another lady on the scene says, “I’m not trying to judge her; it just hurts me that happened.” Detectives charged Coleman with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children.

“I know this probably wasn’t intentional, you know, probably just thinking fast,” says another lady on the scene Coleman’s 6-year-old has special needs; police say she always took him and his 4-year-old sibling to daycare first.

police captain dana paulie said “her normal routine is to take the older kids into daycare comeback and retrieve the baby out of the carseat and unfortunately yesterday morning she forgot to make that second trip to the car.” she said she personally spoke to the officer who carried the baby out of the car, she goes on to say if the need support moving forward they’ll have that available

Police send their condolences to everyone who loved the baby. This is a traumatic event in the community. Police say the mother remains in the Gwinnett County jail and the other two kids are with their father.