WTH? Mom Drives Off With Baby On Car Roof

We've heard of it happening, to the point that it has become an urban legend of its own.  A young mother, stoned and stupid, drives off with the car seat on the top of the car, while horrified witnesses try to flag her attention.  It's been around as long as car seats.

Now we know for sure it's happened.

A Phoenix, Ariz., woman put her 5-week-old baby on top of her car in his car seat and drove away, apparently forgetting he was there, not even noticing when the seat fell off the car and landed in an intersection, police said.

Neighbors discovered the baby on the roadway, still strapped to his safety seat, which was lying on its side. Luckily, the baby was unhurt.

The baby’s mother, 19-year-old Catalina Clouser, who allegedly had been smoking marijuana, was arrested and charged with aggravated driving under the influence and child abuse, police said.

Clauser, her boyfriend and their friends had been smoking marijuana earlier in the evening at a nearby park, but the boyfriend was arrested on suspicion of aggravated DUI when they went to a store — with the baby in the car — to get beer, according to police.
Upset that her boyfriend was arrested, police said, Clauser went to a friend’s home and smoked more marijuana.

Clauser left around midnight and apparently put the sleeping baby on the roof of the car and drove off, forgetting he was there, and continued driving after the baby fell off the car, Holmes said.

She came back looking for her child.  The child is currently with Child Protective Services.