For at least two hours, three children — ages 4, 4 and 8 — were left in an idling car as the children’s 33-year-old father worked in houses on Kensett Lane last Tuesday, Darien police said.
Police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
Police were told at 12:36 p.m. that children were inside a car idling in a parking lot for two hours.
Police went to the car and spoke with the children. They told officers that their father was working in the neighborhood. The children said they were all right and had food and water in the car with them. The air conditioner was on.
About 15 minutes later, the children’s father, William Odane of Mount Vernon, New York, came to the car.
He told police he was working in nearby houses. Because of childcare problems, he brought his children to work with him. He said he could see the children through windows of the homes he was working in and checked on them every 30 minutes.
A witness told police that she hadn’t seen an adult check on the children over the course of more than two hours. Police charged Odane with leaving a child unsupervised and issued a misdemeanor summons to him, directing him to appear Aug. 5 in state Superior Court in Stamford.