SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- It's hard to imagine a 2-year-old little girl was strapped inside her car seat when a minivan went up in flames Monday morning. The child's mother could now be facing child endangerment charges.
"She was treated by paramedics and transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with second and third degree burns to her face. I was informed that was later transported to a burn center in Southern California," said Sergeant Riley Harwood, Santa Barbara Police Department.
Santa Barbara Police say the child's mother, 29-year-old Viviana Wink, parked her car in front of a home on the 1300 block of Santa Teresita Drive and left her child unsupervised. The mother was working as a caretaker for two people who live in the home. They say within 5 minutes of being inside she saw smoke coming from her car.
"She says my car is on fire call the police, which I did," said Rex Cracknell, a patient of the mother.
Rex Cracknell says Wink had been caring for him and his wife for the past eight months and never mentioned she had a child. According to police, Wink could now be looking at jail time for possibly leaving her child in danger.
"The absolute cause of the fire has not yet been determined. However every indication thus far has been that the fire was likely accidental," said Harwood.
No charges have been filed at this point.
