A Plymouth couple has been charged with child neglect and other crimes for allegedly leaving their baby in a car during frigid weather last December for an hour while they shopped in Burnsville.

The 18-month-old boy was barefoot. The temperature was 22 degrees, with a windchill of 10. A passerby called police after noticing the boy in the car crying "uncontrollably," a criminal complaint says.

The woman who called police told them that she saw the baby alone in the car's back seat and estimated that after she had been in the store for 40 to 50 minutes, she saw that he was crying and standing barefoot in front of the steering wheel, the complaint says.

Charged this week in Dakota County District Court were Ismail Hashen Alqawasmi, 38, and Mariam Abumayaleh, 27. In addition to child endangerment, they're charged with child neglect, a felony crime, as well as two gross misdemeanor offenses: unreasonable restraint of a child and child endangerment.

Abumayaleh acknowledged to police that her baby was able to walk and could have gotten out of the car safety seat, and that she knew how cold it was outside when she left him alone in the car, court papers say.

JOY POWELL