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SALT LAKE CITY — A mother accused of leaving her toddler alone in a car for nearly two hours while she went into the homeless shelter to get a crack pipe was charged with two misdemeanors Wednesday.
Akilah Mandisa Davis, 36, is charged in Salt Lake City Justice Court with possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to supervise a child, class B misdemeanors.
An arraignment for Davis is scheduled for June 6.
Salt Lake police say Davis parked her car near 500 West and 300 South about 5 p.m. on April 12 and walked away, leaving her 21-month-old daughter in a car seat in the back.
A bystander who observed Davis get out of her car and walk toward the Road Home shelter called police 30 minutes later after discovering there was a child in the back seat of the vehicle, according to police.
The witness flagged down a Utah Transit Authority officer, who broke into the car to get the toddler out, according to a police report. The child was not injured.
Salt Lake police searched the area, including the homeless shelter, for the mother. When they couldn't find her, officers waited near the car for her to return. Just after 7 p.m., Davis returned to her car.
When police arrested Davis, she had a "glass crack pipe with burnt drug residue" that she "admitted to obtaining … while at the shelter," the report states.
The child was placed into protective custody with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
Davis has previously been convicted twice of misdemeanor shoplifting and multiple counts of driving without a license in 2011 and 2012, according to court records.
