Woman Charged with Child Endangerment in Flossmoor

A suburban woman faces a charge of child endangerment after leaving her daughter in a car outside a health center.

Sheri L. Kuzur, 40, of the 200 block of Geneva Street, Lynwood, was arrested and charged with child endangerment and driving with a suspended license after a Dec. 3 incident, according to Flossmoor police reports.

Police were called at about 2:45 p.m. to the Ingalls Health Center, 19550 Govenors Hwy., after a woman noticed a small child in the driver’s seat of a parked 2005 blue Chrysler, which was not running and had no heat, the report stated.The girl, who turned out to be 4 years old, was not wearing a jacket, and it was 28 degrees outside, the report added.

An officer began talking with the girl, who was crying, and he was able to get her to unlock the car door after several minutes, the report stated. The girl then jumped out of the car and immediately hugged the officer, the report added. The officer put the girl, who had stopped crying, in his squad car to warm up, the report stated, adding that she appeared to be in good health.

At about 2:58 p.m., Kuzur returned to her car and told the officer that she had left her 15-year-old son to watch her 4-year-old daughter in the car while she was in the clinic completing a drug test, the report stated. Kuzur told police that the teen left the car because he needed to use the clinic’s bathroom to take care of a bloody nose, something he gets frequently, the report added. The teen, however, did not return to the car, Kuzur told police.

When police said security video would be used to verify her story, Kuzur recanted, saying she parked in a handicapped spot so the girl would be closer to the clinic and that she was only in the clinic for 15 minutes, the report stated. Security video footage, however, showed Kuzur left her daughter alone for almost 30 minutes, the report added.

Kuzur was taken in to custody and released on bond. She also was given a citation for illegally parking in a handicapped parking spot, the report stated. The 4-year-old girl was turned over to Kuzur’s mother, the girl’s grandmother, the report added.