Fort Lee Woman Leaves Toddler In Vehicle That's Towed Away: Cops

FORT LEE, NJ — A borough woman was charged with abuse Monday after she left her sleeping child in a vehicle that was towed away while she was inside a bank, police said.

Police officers responded to the Fort Lee Towne Center shortly before 6 p.m. after Yuqing Jiang, 46, called 911 to report that her vehicle had been towed away with her child inside, said Capt. Matthew Hintze.

Jiang told police that she left her 2-year-old daughter inside the vehicle while she went into Chase Bank and made a deposit, Hintze said. When Jiang returned she noticed her vehicle was not there and called 911.

The vehicle was towed away because it was improperly parked, police said. An attendant monitors the private property and notifies ABC Towing when someone parks there, but then goes somewhere else, which is what Jiang did, police said.

A police officer responded to ABC Towing on Bergen Boulevard and found the girl in the back seat of the vehicle sleeping, unharmed and unrestrained under blankets, Hintze said.

"A vehicle that is being towed and is locked would not be searched by the tow operator," Hintze said.

Jiang was reunited with her daughter shortly after she was found.

The state Division of Child Protection and Permanency and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office were notified.

Jiang was arrested and served with a criminal summons for abuse, abandonment, cruelty and neglect of a child, police said. The child was released to her family.

Jiang was later released from police custody. She is due to appear in Bergen County Superior Court April 13.

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