Cobb Toddler Left in Day Care Van For Two Hours, Driver Arrested

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Photo Credit: Smith Family/CBS 46

A Cobb County day care employee is behind bars after police say she left a two-year-old child locked inside a van for over two hours Monday evening.

The grandmother of Jeremy Smith, Jr. discovered the child asleep in the van after he was not returned from the New Beginnings Learning Center on Sylvan Road at the usual time. A passerby threw a rock through a window of the van to allow Jeremy to get out of the van, WSB-TV reports.

The driver of the van, Shavonda Dailey, was taken into custody at the scene, WSB-TV reports. Fulton County jail records show that Dailey has been charged with reckless conduct and second degree cruelty to children.

Jeremy was taken to the hospital to have his fluids checked but is in good health.

This is the second such incident related in Cobb County in the last month; on May 17, a Cobb County judge ordered the Bright Achievers Pre-K Center to close, two weeks after center owner Dr. Melinda Hamilton was taken into custody and charged with reckless conduct, making false statements, concealing facts, and tampering with evidence after Zaryaha Emile was found abandoned in a Bright Achievers van, FOX 5 Atlanta said.

WSB-TV reported that Hamilton is accused of telling the mother of the 2-year-old that her child had only been left in the van for 15 minutes, while in reality the child had been inside for over five hours. Furthermore, Hamilton is accused of failing to call 911 when the child was discovered, telling the driver not to report the incident, and ordering employee to make up fake stories and destroy evidence.