Almost a week after a 4-year-old girl was stranded in a Milwaukee tow lot after an OWI arrest, Milwaukee Police released a prepared statement about the case.
According to the statement, police have launched an internal investigation of police personnel involved in the case, along with the criminal investigation into the driver of the car.
The full statement reads:
“The Milwaukee Police Department is grateful that the four year old involved in an incident at the tow lot on November 12, 2018 appears to be doing well. However, the fact that a four year old child was left overnight in a vehicle that this Department requested to tow is simply unacceptable. While the event remains under investigation, the Department does not take this incident lightly and will take whatever steps are necessary to prevent this situation from ever happening again.
The Department is reviewing the body camera, squad camera and other available video as part of the recently charged criminal investigation as well as an internal investigation of the MPD personnel involved. The Department recognizes there is a public demand for the body camera and squad camera footage relevant to this incident. Such release is pending the conclusions of the aforementioned investigations.”
The girl spent eight hours overnight in the tow lot after her mother was pulled over near N. 39th Street and Forest Home Avenue for allegedly impaired driving.
Police officers removed a 10-month-old from the vehicle, but neglected to remove the 4-year-old girl from the back seat. Temperatures dipped to 19 degrees that night.
After spending the night inside the van in the tow lot, an officer heard the girl crying for help.
The 4-year-old’s mother Blair Springfield has since been charged with seven counts of child neglect, along with OWI charges.
