Police: Mother Arrested for Letting 2-Year-Old Wander Into Gas Station Parking Lot

A 32-year-old Meriden mother was arrested on Friday, after her two-year-old daughter was found walking around a gas station parking lot alone on a busy street in the city, Police said.

Police were called to the at 54 S Broad St. at about 6:45 p.m. by clerks who reported that a little girl was walking around the parking lot, Police Spokesman Det. Lt. Mark Walerysiak said Monday.

"They had seen her there for a few minutes without anyone taking claim or ownership for the child," Walerysiak said.

When officers showed up, so did the mother of the child, independently, Walerysiak said. Police let the child's mother, Miranda Jean Baston, 32, of 175 Hall Ave. take the child to her nearby home while the officer talked with witnesses on scene. 

The officers came to Baston's home soon after and allegedly smelled alcohol on her breath, and thought she was drunk, Walerysiak said. That, combined with  estimates that the child had been unsupervised for about 10 minutes and the mother had not called police looking for the child, gave officers probable cause for arrest, Walerysiak said.

The child has gotten out of the house unsupervised before, Walerysiak said.

Baston was charged with Risk Of Injury To a Child and released on $2,500 bond. She has a March 30, 2012 court date. The incident was referred to the state's Department of Children and Families.