Listen Live
St Jude banner
CLOSE

Shanesha Taylor would never have left her kids sitting in a car during her job interview if she had any other options.

The Arizona mother was arrested back in March for leaving her infant and toddler sons in an SUV while she tried to secure a job and provide for her family.

“It was a moment of desperation,” Shanesha explained during an interview with “TODAY” this week. “It was me knowing my family was in crisis and knowing that I had to make a choice between providing for my children or caring for my children.”

The mom revealed that she did have a babysitter set up to watch the kids during her interview. Unfortunately, that person backed out of the job at the last minute. “[The sitter] flaked on me, is the best way to say it,” Shanesha said.

It was at that point that Shanesha had a tough call to make because she couldn’t imagine giving up an opportunity for gainful employment. “It’s making a choice out of desperation,” Shanesha said. “It’s choosing what is the best option, what is the best thing for me to do in this particular situation – being able to provide food, a roof, clothes, shoes for them, or take this moment and care for them,”

Shanesha left the boys strapped into their car seats with windows cracked and the doors unlocked during the interview. She was still arrested on charges of felony child abuse because temperatures inside the vehicle had climbed to nearly 100 degrees.

The charges against her have since been dropped, but she must complete parenting and substance abuse programs under the terms of a deal that she’s agreed to.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Down in Florida, another woman has been arrested for leaving five kids in a hot car while getting a job application, First Coast News reports.

Betty Taronya Brunson, 23, was charged with child neglect after footage from an Office Depot security cam showed that she left the children on their own for no less than 15 minutes. Betty claims that she only left the kids, who ranged from 1-8 years old, in the car for 10 minutes so that she could copy a job application.

A police report on the matter states that although the windows were cracked about four inches, it was 92 degrees outside at the time.

 

Shanesha Taylor Speaks Out On Leaving Her Kids In SUV During Job Interview  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com