Woman charged after child left alone in vehicle

A Drayton Valley woman has been charged with child abandonment after a two-year-old girl was left alone in a vehicle parked outside a Costco store in south Edmonton.

Edmonton police say the child was left alone for close to an hour outside the store at 91st Street and 23rd Avenue on May 27.

Police say they received two more complaints on Wednesday about children left alone in vehicles. Charges are pending in one case where three children were found in a vehicle that was left running with the air conditioning on.

Sgt. Elli McEvoy says the children could easily have put the vehicle in gear.

"There's no reason for a second's convenience that we'd have to face a lifetime of regret for doing something that, really, there's no reason," she said. "Nothing is more important than your children's safety."

McEvoy says that police take this issue seriously and willcharge parents or guardiansif children are found left alone in vehicles.