A small boy was towed away in his mother's illegally parked car after the tow truck driver failed to notice a seven-year-old boy in the backseat.
Now the driver and the boy’s mother are facing charges over the incident, which happened in the mid-western US city of Indianapolis.
Robyn Hardy had left her son sitting in the back of a car parked in a fire lane while she ran into a discount variety store around on Thursday night, FOX59 reports.
When she returned to her car a few moments later she was shocked to find the vehicle and her son missing.
"Oh god. I'm in Eagledale Plaza off of Lafayette Road and my car is gone and my son is in the car," Ms Hardy told an emergency services operator.
Moments later Indiana police phoned emergency services to inform them they had just impounded a vehicle from Eagledale Plaza and the driver had noticed there was a small boy "lying ... I guess on the floor in the back."
The boy later said he was sitting at the front of his mother's car when the truck had towed him away.
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"He didn't know I was in the car until we stopped and I opened the door," the boy said.
The tow truck driver later said he did not check to see if anyone was in the car.
The driver now faces charges after police found the vehicle was incorrectly towed "with no safety straps or lights".
"You're not supposed to be in the back of a car when it's being towed anyway, but then couple that with the fact that it wasn't hooked up correctly," said a spokeswoman with Indianapolis Metro Police Department.
Jason Gosset, the tow truck driver, faces a charge of criminal recklessness while Ms Hardy is charged with neglect after leaving her son alone in the car in minus-one degree weather.
The boy is currently living with his grandmother.
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