Georgia mom Destyni Triplett arrested after leaving son in car with the engine running

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. – Police have charged a 19-year-old mother accused of leaving her 18-month-old son alone inside an unlocked car while she took a nursing school exam.

Campus security found the boy on Thursday crying as he was strapped into a car seat with the engine running and the air conditioning tued on.

Destyni Triplett was arrested at the school and charged with reckless conduct.

'It was very dangerous for the child,' Sandy Springs police Sgt. Forrest Bohannon told WSB-TV. 'Anything could have happened. It was a dangerous situation for the child to be left alone at a year and a half in the vehicle.'

Triplett expressed remorse for the incident, though she said that the boy's father was supposed to be in the car watching their son.

The young mother said that just before she was due to take a test at the nursing school, her babysitter canceled on her. 

She then expected the boy's father to show up, but he failed to do, she told the television station.

Luckily, the boy was in the car for 15 minutes before he was noticed by the security guard. Police say the air conditioning prevented the car's interior from quickly heating up.

'The child was fine when they got there,' Bohannon said. 'The car had been running with the air conditioning on, so it hadn't gotten that hot yet.'

Triplett still maintains custody of the boy. Despite the arrest, she says she's a good mother.

Triplett was inside a nursing school taking an exam after leaving her son alone in the vehicle

A security guard noticed the boy crying as the car in which he was strapped was still running. Triplett says the boy's father was supposed to show up to look after him

'Looking back, I would have definitely taken him in [with me to the nursing school], but I wasn't thinking and I made a terrible mistake,' she said.

This year alone, there have been 23 child deaths blamed on hot cars, according to Dr. Jan Null of San Jose State University.

Earlier this month, in the same state of Georgia, two twin girls died after their father left them in a roasting hot car in 90-degree temperatures outside their home.

The 16-month-old girls, Ariel and Alaynah North, died after they were found unresponsive while strapped in their car seats in the back of an SUV, CBS46 reported.

Captain Chris Dobbs in Carrollton said on Friday that 24-year-old Asa North 'had been consuming alcoholic beverages' before leaving his toddlers in the car.