COLUMBUS -- A Brown County husband and wife were arrested on charges of child neglect Monday after police said they left their 4-month child unattended in a truck in the parking lot of a grocery story on the west side of Columbus.

Dustin Baker, 25 and Cierra Baker, 23, Mt. Liberty Road, were arrested by Columbus Police Department officers Monday evening. They were taken to Bartholomew County Jail on charges of neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony, said CPD spokesman Maj. Matt Myers. Each is being held on a $10,000 bond.

Myers said that at 7:30 p.m., police received a call about a small child who was left unattended in a truck, and crying, in the West Hill Shopping Center.

Patrolmen LaShawn Tyler and Curtis Nelson responded and found the truck. In it, a man who identified himself as a police officer from Brown County was holding and comforting the baby. The officer, Brown County sheriff's deputy Nathan Tompkins, said that after coming out of the grocery store, he heard the baby crying and went to check on it. Tompkins has an infant son of his own.

The Columbus police officers waited at the truck at least 15 minutes until two adults, who identified themselves as the child's parents, returned to the truck.

Police questioned them about why the child was left in the truck, Myers said. The mother said she took her two other children, ages 2 and 4, into the store but forgot the baby. The father said he took the baby out to the vehicle and then went back inside to get the groceries.

An ambulance was called to check on the health of the baby, who was determined to be OK.

Child Protective Services was called, and agency personnel took into their care the baby and the other two children.

-- Kirk Johannesen, The Republic (Columbus)