Police: Child Tied in Hot Car While Parents Finished Meal
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Police in northwest Georgia have rescued a boy from a hot car where his mother's companion is accused of tying him up.
Ringgold, Georgia, police say a Cracker Barrel restaurant employee called police after seeing Raymond Minchew take the six-year-old out of the restaurant and return without him -- then finished eating his meal. Ringgold is about 13 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Police found the bound boy sitting in the car, crying.
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Sergeant John Gass says the child was soaked with sweat and had a rope tied to one of his ankles. Gass says the temperature was in the 80s Saturday in Ringgold.
The 61-year-old Minchew and the boy's mother -- 35-year-old Rachel Gilchrist -- were arrested and charged with cruelty to children and concealing a weapon. There was a handgun in the car.
Investigators believe the boy was in the hot car for about a half hour.
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Police Sergeant John Gass says the couple contended the boy had misbehaved, although witnesses at the restaurant disagreed.
The boy has been placed in protective custody.