Deputies smash car window, rescue toddler, arrest tot’s dad

LASD car. Signal file photo.
LASD car. Signal file photo.
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Deputies who found a toddler left in a car at Granary Square Sunday broke one of the car windows and freed the child, arresting the child’s father a short time later on suspicion of child endangerment.

About 4:30 p.m., deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to reports of a child left in a vehicle on the 25900 block of McBean Parkway, in the parking lot of Granary Square.

“Deputies arrived and located a 3-year-old left in a car seat, in a locked vehicle, with a window slightly cracked open,” said Lt. Ignacio Somoano, who heads the SCV Sheriff’s Station Detective Section.

“After several minutes on scene, a deputy shattered a window and entered the vehicle,” he said.

Paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department also responded to the distress call.

“This was for a baby locked in a car,” Scott Elliott, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said Monday.

The person who placed the 911 call was not at the scene of the incident near the Ralphs grocery store, Elliott noted.

“A short time later the child’s father exited a store and contacted deputies,” Somoano said.

“Based on the investigation, it’s believed the child was left alone in the vehicle for approximately one hour,” he said.

Barry Vanstone, 51, of Valencia, was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, a felony.

The rescued toddler was left with a family member, Somoano said.

Social workers at the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services were notified about the alleged incident.

Vanstone was taken into custody with bail set at $50,000.

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On Twitter @jamesarthurholt

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