VALDOSTA — Two parents were arrested Monday after leaving a child inside a hot car while they were inside a restaurant, according to police.

At about 6:10 p.m., police received a call saying someone had left a child unattended inside a hot vehicle at a restaurant in the 2800 block of North Ashley Street, said Lt. Adam Bembry of the Valdosta Police Department. The caller said the child, about 3 years old, was in the car with the windows rolled up and the engine off, he said.

Officers found the parents inside the restaurant and the child was taken out of the car, Bembry said. Paramedics examined the child, who was unhurt, he said.

The parents said they knew the child was in the car but thought it would be alright because they had only been inside the restaurant for a couple of minutes, Bembry said. Surveillance video from the restaurant showed they had actually been inside for 20 minutes, he said. The parents were taken into custody, the Department of Family and Children Services was notified and a relative took custody of the child, according to Bembry.

Jessica Brown, 30, and Timothy Kelly, 27, were each charged with one count of reckless conduct, Bembry said.

The temperature was 86 degrees when police received the phone call, he said. Data from San Francisco State University indicates that the temperature inside the car could have risen about 29 degrees during the 20 minutes the child was inside the car, according to Bembry.

“The Valdosta Police Department thanks the citizen who called for emergency assistance; had she not been concerned for the child’s safety, the result could have been deadly,” he said.

Terry Richards is an editor at The Valdosta Daily Times.