Mom Held Boy Out Window Of SUV, Police Say

PINELLAS PARK - A 27-year-old woman was arrested after she was seen holding her 5-year-old son out the front passenger window of a slow-moving sport utility vehicle Wednesday night, Pinellas Park police said.

Christina Adams

At a different point, Christina Adams was seen leaning out the window and holding her son's hand, making him keep up with the moving vehicle as it traveled in a neighborhood in the vicinity of 66th Avenue and 43rd Street about 11:45 p.m., police said.

There was a witness in each instance, police said.

When the vehicle was stopped, Adams appeared to be extremely drunk and was belligerent, police said. Adams, 27, of 5875 70th Ave. N., was arrested and charged with child abuse, and the boy was released to a family member.

When dispatchers received a complaint of a woman holding a child out the window of a car, officers found the black Jimmie on 67th Avenue as it was turning onto 42nd Street, said Capt. Sanfield Forseth.

The SUV stopped, and the officers pulled in behind it, Forseth said. Joseph West was driving. Two other adults were inside - Adams and Ariane Marie Parsons - along with three children. One, 10, was Adams' son; another, 4, was Parsons' son. And the other was Adams' 5-year-old son, Forseth said.

Two witnesses approached the officers and told them they had seen Adams holding the boy out the window and pulling him alongside the SUV, Forseth said. When Adams was holding the boy out the window, the SUV was going 3 to 5 mph, Forseth said.

Adams, who is unemployed, said the boy was trying to climb out the window and she was preventing him from doing so, Forseth said. She denied dragging the boy by the hand while he was outside the vehicle, Forseth said.

She didn't appear to be taking the investigation into her actions seriously, Forseth said.

Parsons told police the 5-year-old was causing a ruckus. She said Adams was holding him out the window until he calmed down, Forseth said.