Walmart Employee Helped Rescue Newborn From 'Extremely Hot' Car: Police

A Walmart employee helped police officers rescue a 2-week old baby Thursday from an "extremely hot" vehicle in Louisiana.

In a Facebook post, the Slidell Police Department said that the incident occurred around 10 a.m. when officers were called to a local Walmart following reports of a "visibly impaired" woman with her infant child in the parking lot.

Upon their arrival, officers, however, were unable to immediately locate the woman, later identified as 37-year-old Ashley Kennedy. Officers were then told by witnesses that Kennedy "left the area in grey Honda Odyssey minivan," according to the police's Facebook post.

Officers then searched the area for roughly an hour until they were notified by "an alert Walmart employee" that Kennedy "was back at Walmart, but this time shopping inside of the store without her child."

"Fearing the worst, Slidell Police rushed to Walmart and located the highly intoxicated woman (Ashley Kennedy) inside of the store," the police department said.

Shortly after finding Kennedy's car, officers "forced" themselves into her vehicle in order to remove the 16-day-old baby. Upon entering the vehicle, which they said was "extremely hot," officers noticed that the "air conditioner" was on, but it was "blowing hot air," and that the baby was "covered in a blanket."

The baby was described as "lethargic" when officers entered the vehicle. However, the infant was transported to a hospital, "and miraculously, is expected to survive and make a full recovery," police said, adding that officers "also discovered that Kennedy was involved in a hit and run accident, earlier in the day."

Following the rescue of her baby, officers arrested Kennedy and charged her with cruelty to juveniles, improper child restraint, and hit and run. She was also charged with her third offense of DWI with child endangerment.

In its Facebook post, Slidell Police Department Chief Randy Fandal credited the officers and the Walmart employee with helping in the rescue of the newborn.

"If it was not for the alert Walmart employee and the quick actions of our officers, this incident would have resulted in the death of this young two-week-old," he said. "As terrible of a situation the was, it could have been a lot worse. So many things could have gone differently today, and we thank God for such a positive outcome."

According to police, the newborn has since been taken into custody by the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services.

Newsweek reached out to the Slidell Police Department for further comment.

Over the past several months, several similar incidents have occurred, such as an 8-month-old in Georgia that died after being left in a hot car for several hours. Meanwhile in Tennessee, a 2-year-old died after being left in a hot car in May after a daycare worker left the child in the car while they went to work.