A woman in Memphis, Tenn. has been arrested after a video surfaced online which showed two kids getting out of pet kennels inside the trunk of an SUV in Memphis, police said.
62-year-old Leimome Cheeks has been arrested and charged with two counts of child endangerment.
According to the affidavit, the children said that there was no room in the backseat, so their grandmother told them to get inside the dog cages.
Cheeks admitted that she drove the children in the kennels from Whitehaven to Collierville – a 35-minute ride, on Saturday.
“I’m just so sad for the babies. For them to be in the hot car like that in cages is sad,” neighbor Nikita Blake told WREG.
With temperatures reaching the 95-degrees, the 7 and 8-year-old children told police they were hot since there were no vents in the back of the vehicle.
Neighbors are now trying to piece together the thought behind her actions.
“I’m still shocked. I really can’t see her doing that. She’s such a nice lady, ” neighbor Skylark Blake said.
Neighbors said that Cheeks just bought two German shepherd puppies that she would put in the kennels in the back of her truck. They say that she’s a woman of faith and a very nice lady.
“I think she needs some help. Something is going on with her. If she did that, then that’s out of character for her,” one neighbor said.
The video was captured by a concerned citizen who said he happened to be in the right place at the right when he witnessed the unusual sight.
He told reporters that he hopes the video will motivate others to call authorities when they see strange things like this happening.
