Police: Colorado mom chugs vodka and leaves toddler in car, buried in snow

“Mom” says she was taking shots of vodka the night before

When a Colorado woman called police on Saturday morning to tell them she lost her car, they weren’t expecting to find her car buried in snow, much less her 2-year-old toddler stuck inside the vehicle.

The Independent Journal Review (IJR) reports that Nicole Carmon, 26, of Westminster, called police officers and told them she didn’t remember where she left her car. She said she’d been in a car accident the night before, and admitted that she may have left her young son in the vehicle. She also said she’d “left her car” somewhere and had gotten a ride home.

At around 10:40 a.m on Saturday, Westminster officers began looking for the little boy. Around an hour later, they spotted Carmon’s 2013 green Ford Fusion parked just outside of a outside a Thornton strip mall. As they brushed the snow away, officers noticed a child in the car. They rushed him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with “in a state of severe hypothermia.”

“The car was blanketed with snow. There was no way of seeing what was inside…We didn’t know how long that child had been left in the vehicle alone. There were sub-zero temperatures overnight. We were hoping we would have a good conclusion. That’s thankfully the case,” said Thornton police officer, Matt Barnes.

Carmon reportedly told police that she’d had six shots of vodka and vaguely remembered her car being close to a Chinese restaurant. She was subsequently arrested and charged with felony child abuse. On Sunday evening, police confirmed that the little boy was doing much better and would likely be “OK.”

As of Monday, Carmon was still behind bars at the Adams County Detention Center. Detectives are investigating whether the incident was accidental or intentional.

[Feature Photo by Westminster Police Department]