A St. Paul woman celebrated her 22nd birthday Friday evening with tattoos and drinks. Meanwhile, her toddler waited in an unlocked car all alone.

According to Greensburg Police Chief Brian Heaton, Jessica L. Middleton, 22, was arrested early Saturday morning on charges of neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony. Heaton said at 10:26 p.m. Friday, the department received a call of a 2-year-old in a car unattended in the city parking lot just off the downtown square. Due to a high call volume taxing the on-duty officers he had at the time, Officer Mike McNealy didn’t arrive immediately. When he did, he found a child being cared for by some friendly passers-by.

“There were some good samaritaians tending to the kid. The car was unlocked, and the child was screaming,” Heaton said.

The toddler was dressed in only pajamas and socks, Heaton said, and the evening was a chilly 51 degrees. McNealy immediately called in Decatur County EMS and Child Protective Services. EMS examined the child, who was determined to be uninjured. McNealy and the rest of the GPD units as well as assisting deputies from the Sheriff’s Department combed the nearby bars for the mother to no avail.

Heaton said they may not have found Middleton without thew help of a 16-year-old male who said he was friends with the mother. He told officers Middleton, who turned 22 on Oct. 15, went to Somers’ Ink, a new tattoo parlor downtown, for a tattoo at around 9:30 p.m. Afterwards, Heaton said the teenager informed officers she went to the Tiki Bar for a birthday drink. He identified Middleton to officers, who allowed him access to the bar for the purpose of making their arrest.

Once identified, Middleton was quickly taken into custody. The child was turned over to Child Protective Services and released into the temporary custody of a relative, Heaton said. In all, the toddler was alone for about an hour.

The incident was troublesome to officers as well as the chief, he said. The situation took all the resources the GPD had and likely took away from other calls or crimes that may have been committed. Above all, it made him mad that something like this could happen in his city.

“This bothers me extremely. It makes absolutely no sense to leave a kid in a car so you can go anywhere,” Heaton said. “I’m just at a loss for words.”

The weather conditions could have been bad enough but there were so many other factors, he said, that could have come into play to turn this situation from bad to worse. Hopefully, he said, Middleton will learn the error of her ways.

“Obviously, mom needs some parenting skills,” Heaton said. “We were fortunate with this. There are so many things that could’ve went wrong.”