Police: Mom left girl in car while in bar

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FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla., July 20 (UPI) -- A Florida woman is charged with child neglect for allegedly leaving a young girl in her pickup truck while she went to drink at a bar, authorities said.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said a deputy responded July 14 to a bar in Fort Walton Beach on a report of a child, approximately 7 or 8 years old, sitting alone in a pickup truck while her mother was inside the bar, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported Friday.

The deputy arrived to find a woman, Sarah Elizabeth Morrison, in the driver's seat of the vehicle and the child in the back seat.

The arrest report said Morrison had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath.

"After several versions of why she was there and how long she had been there, Morrison stated, post Miranda that she had been inside the bar for approximately four hours and that she would check on (the girl) every 15 minutes or so," the deputy wrote.

The deputy said Morrison was also in possession of four oxycodone pills she claimed as her own and admitted she didn't have a prescription to take.

Morrison was charged with felony counts of child neglect and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. She is due back in court Aug. 21.