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Baby found crying in hot car with parents high and passed out nearby, police say

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A couple faces multiple charges after they were found in a car, passed out and high, with their crying 10-month-old baby nearby as temperatures reached about 90 degrees, according to multiple reports.

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A woman told police she noticed the baby on Sunday when she heard the child's cries and noticed the car, which was not running, with a door open, according to WSAZ. She told officers she tried to wake the three people inside the car, but they were unresponsive, so she took the child from the car and called police.

In the vehicle, authorities found pain pills and four syringes, including an uncapped one beneath the baby's seat, WCHS reported.

Police arrested Tiffany Mae Freeman, 22, and Lewis Joseph Myers, 32, on child neglect charges, according to records from the West Virginia Regional Jail & Correctional Facility Authority. The third person in the vehicle was not identified.

Myers told police he took two bars of Xanax and injected heroin after parking the car Sunday, WCHS reported. In Freeman's purse, authorities found syringes and multiple Suboxone packages, according to a criminal complaint.

Authorities administered Narcan to Myers to bring him back to consciousness, according to WSAZ. Freeman and the unidentified third person in the car woke on their own a short time later.

Medics with the Charleston Fire Department treated the couple's 10-month-old child at the scene. The baby "had a soiled diaper and appeared to be overheated and hungry," WCHS reported.

The baby was taken into the custody of child protective services. She was expected to make a full recovery, according to WSAZ.

Authorities encouraged people to keep an eye out for people and animals stuck in vehicles with the coming of summer and hotter temperatures.

"If you see an animal or a child locked in a car in extreme weather, please call 911 and please feel free to save that child's life by breaking a window if you have to," Charleston Police Lt. Steve Cooper told WSAZ. "Do whatever you have to do, because a small child like that can suffer heat stroke pretty quickly."