Mother arrested after deserting her 2 young kids in an Uber
By: -----
Sunrise, FL - Newly released body camera video shows the moments Florida police officers confronted a mother who they say deserted her two young children inside an Uber.
Officers with the Sunrise Police Department responded about 11 p.m. Friday after an Uber driver called 911 and reported his passenger had deserted her two kids, ages 3 and 4, in his car for about two hours.
Police say the driver told them he had picked up 32-year-old Emily Sabogal and her kids at a shopping plaza and that Sabogal was holding a cup at the time, which he believed to contain some kind of liquor.
At one point, police say Sabogal reached over the center console, grabbed the driver’s phone and canceled the ride. She gave the driver $10 in cash and asked him to stop the car.
Once the car was stopped, police say Sabogal got out without her children and told the driver she would be back in three minutes, but she failed to return and stopped answering her phone.
The officers who responded to the driver’s 911 call say the kids appeared to be in good health and spirits but told police they were hungry and thirsty.
Police later found Sabogal walking outside a McDonald’s about 2.2 miles away. She could not explain why she left her children with a stranger or how she arrived at the restaurant.
“I don’t have my actual phone. I don’t have my car. I’m not in control of my situation,” said Sabogal in the bodycam video.
“You deserted your kids for two hours,” said an officer in the video. “That Uber driver has been waiting with your kids for the past two hours. Why did you get out of the Uber?”
Sabogal was arrested on charges of child neglect and abandonment. She was later released from jail after posting a $3,000 bond.
Authorities say employees at Bob G’s Wings N’ Things told officers Sabogal is a regular customer and had been there earlier Friday night with her children. They told police the children were running around unsupervised while Sabogal consumed multiple alcoholic beverages at the bar.
The children’s father says this is not the first time Sabogal has shown erratic behavior and that he plans to seek full custody.