Police: Woman leaves two kids in hot car while she gets drunk in bar

A Kissimmee, Florida, mom was caught reportedly drinking at a bar on Sunday while her two children waited in her car with no air conditioning.

Click Orlando reports that on Sunday night at around 10:14 p.m., Larissa Rivera, 28, was inside the Butikin Orlando bar off of International Drive, drinking alcohol while her two children, ages five and three, sat inside her car with no air conditioning, water, or food. A concerned citizen spotted the children and dialed 911.

When officers arrived, they opened the back door of a Ford Focus and found a 5-year-old girl screaming. An officer wrote in a police report that once fresh air hit the little girl’s face, she calmed down.

“I opened the driver side rear passenger door and was greeted with a little girl (approximately 5 years of age) crying hysterically. She quickly calmed down once fresh air came upon her.”

The officer also noted that a 3-year-old boy was in the car and that both children were sweating and their skin was hot to the touch.

Rivera walked out to the parking lot while police were still there and told them she was keeping tabs on her children while in the bar. The officer noted that she smelled like alcohol and her eyes were “glassed over.” She said the kids had only been in the car for around half an hour and that she could see her car from the bar the entire time. She also said she already called the children’s godmother to come pick them up.

The suspect was charged with two counts of “leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.”

Later, Rivera told Click Orlando that her children were comfortable staying in cars and that she initially had the air conditioning on until the kids complained they were too cold. She said the kids had dinner at Butikin’s earlier that evening and were tired, so she let them sleep in the car.

[Feature Photo: Orlando PD]