GEORGETOWN, SC (WBTW) – A Georgetown County elementary school principal has been charged with child neglect after leaving two children in a car in a grocery store parking lot.
According to a press release from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, Kimberly Lynn Means-Nesmith, Principal at Browns Ferry Elementary School, was charged with unlawful neglect of a child or helpless person after two young girls, ages 5 and 6, were found crying and banging on the windows of a 2016 Honda Pilot parked at Publix grocery in Pawleys Island Tuesday afternoon. The sheriff’s office says the outdoor temperature at the time was 85 degrees.
Means-Nesmith, 35, told a deputy she was in the store a few minutes and left the children in the car because they were sleeping. She said her husband was on the way from Georgetown to pick them up.
Means-Nesmith had a third child in her custody at the time, but took that 2-year-old little boy into the store. According to the sheriff’s office, Means-Nesmith entered the store at 5:46 p.m. A store employee said a customer brought her the car’s license tag number to page the owner after other concerned customers had gathered around the locked car at 6:05 p.m.
Means-Nesmith checked out with her purchases at 6:12 p.m.
The children were examined by first responders and no injuries were found. The children were allowed to go home with their father.
Means-Nesmith is expected to go before a magistrate at the Georgetown County Detention Center Wednesday for a hearing.
