NORTH LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Video released Tuesday shows North Las Vegas police officers rescuing a 6-month-old baby from a car parked outside a casino.
The temperature outside at the time was 100 degrees. The boy was found when another customer heard him crying in the car and went to casino security.
When police arrived, they found security personnel at the car with the back door open and the boy in a car seat. The front driver’s side window was rolled down about four inches, but the other windows were up.
Videos show Sgt. Becky Salkoff and officer Osvaldo Cerda-Guzman arriving around 10:20 p.m. and giving the child water as EMTs care for him.
Police say Mitchell Hooks, 39, left his son alone in the car at the Bighorn Casino around 9:45 p.m. on July 16. He faces charges of child abuse/neglect and leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.
When officers found Hooks inside the casino, he said he “made a mistake” by going gambling. He told police he had dropped off his sister at a friend’s house, then gone to the casino instead of going home, according to the arrest report.
The boy was taken to University Medical Center for evaluation.
Hooks initially told police he stopped because he had to use the bathroom, but he eventually said he shouldn’t have done what he did and he “deserved anything that was coming to him,” according to the arrest report.
