Insets: Josh Harris and Kristina Vitucci (Volusia County Jail). Background: Cops in Edgewater, Florida, confront Vitucci after she allegedly left her 2-year-old daughter in the car while she and Harris drank inside a bar (Edgewater Police Department).
A Florida couple is in hot water after they allegedly left a toddler girl in a car for nearly two hours while they drank inside a bar.
Kristina Vitucci, 35, and her 39-year-old boyfriend Joshua Harris are charged with child neglect for the Jan. 28 incident at the Jan & Lib’s Hi-Tops Lounge in Edgewater, about 15 miles south of Daytona Beach.
Police released portions of a 911 call and body camera footage on Monday, which revealed how the incident unfolded.
A woman called 911 after seeing the girl alone in the backseat of the car in the parking lot. The vehicle had been turned off and unlocked.
“There’s a baby out here in the car by itself,” she said. “I just don’t want anyone to get mad at me but I think this is wrong.”
The dispatcher agreed and sent cops to the bar. An officer walked up to the car and freed the child. Harris came outside and told cops while he was the owner of the car, he was not the girl’s father. Officers had Harris retrieve Vitucci who was still inside the bar.
Officers confronted her once she walked outside.
“What’s going on Kristina? You’ve got an idea of why we’re here,” an officer said.
Vitucci took a deep breath, brushed her hair and put her hands in her pockets.
She said “Yeah” and cops informed her that her daughter was fine.
Officers then interviewed Harris while he was handcuffed against a car in the bar parking lot. He admitted he knew a child was in the car and told cops he asked his girlfriend to leave the bar and go to his house.
Meanwhile, the video showed officers trying to calm the crying child by giving her a toy.
Officers then put Vitucci and Harris into the back of a cruiser, which captured their conversation that turned into an argument.
“I can!” Harris retorted. “You brought her to a bar, and you sat inside!”
They had a back-and-forth about who told who to leave first.
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“Your charges are gonna be dismissed and mine f—ing aren’t,” Vitucci whined.
“Well guess what?” Harris shouted. “I still have to deal with this s— … Instead, I could have f—ing bonded you out. But now I’m f—ing hanging out with you in this stupid ass f—ing pig car!”
Vitucci asked Harris to calm down, but his rant continued.
“No, because I haven’t done s— wrong. That’s why I’m flipping out. I’m flipping out cause I haven’t done s— wrong,” he yelled, rocking the police car in frustration. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I was minding my own f—ing business and I told you to meet me at the house. And now I’m in f—ing handcuffs. Now I gotta deal with this thing in a public forum … I gotta pay to get this s— rinsed off my f—ing record.”
Cops transported them to the Volusia County Jail. Both have since bonded out. Their next court date is scheduled for Feb. 18.
Police described the ordeal as “disgusting.”
“Do better,” cops wrote in a Facebook post.
