Police: Man left child in vehicle while working out

Posted

A 42-year-old Manning man was charged Friday night with unlawful neglect of a child after allegedly leaving his 3-year-old child in an unattended vehicle earlier in the day while he was in a local gym.

Manning Police Chief Blair Shaffer said that Willie Edward Lloyd Jr. of 722 Lawson St. in Manning allegedly spent 23 minutes in Anytime Fitness about 9:30 a.m. Friday while the young child sat in an unattended, locked vehicle which was not running.

"The temperature last week during the day was in the 30s," Shaffer said. "The father was inside the gym working out. He saw the officer out there next to the van trying to get in, and he came out. He was pretty irate at us being there. We got him calmed down and officers advised him that he couldn't leave a child alone in a vehicle like that."

According to reports, police responding to the scene talked to the child and attempted to get him to unlock the vehicle doors, but the child did not comply. The man told police that he had only been in the gym about 10 minutes, but records from the gym - which records entrances and exits via video surveillance - showed he had been in the gym about 23 minutes.

"At the time of the incident, we didn't make the arrest," Shaffer said. "We wanted to look into how long he'd been at the gym versus what he was saying. We notified the Department of Social Services and charged him that night with unlawful neglect of a child."

South Carolina law prohibits "parents or legal guardians of willfully abandoning minor children and placing them at an unreasonable risk of harm affecting the child's life, physical or mental health or safety."

According to the Clarendon County Detention Center, Lloyd posted a $2,500 personal recognizance bond Saturday to gain release from the jail. He faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.