Two years ago, Florida police responded to the report of a 1-year-old toddler sitting in the sand alone, getting tossed by the tide. After police figured out the baby’s mother was the one who left the child there, she got sent straight to jail. Now, we know what her ultimate punishment will be.
Shamika Mitchell was visiting Daytona Beach with her son in November 2023. The office of the state attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit said surveillance footage located Mitchell walking down the stairs to the beach with the baby in her arms, just before midnight. However, after five minutes, Mitchell was seen leaving the beach but without the child.
Prosecutors said a woman found the toddler an hour after his mother disappeared. Authorities say the woman saw the baby on all fours, partially buried in the sand as waves crashed over his head in the dark. By the time paramedics arrived, the baby was unresponsive with shallow breath and an elevated pulse, per WESH’s report. He was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where he recovered from the conditions.
As for his mother, police got to her before the child was even found, the report says. A guard peeped her walking empty handed from the beach. She originally told officers she dropped the child off with his father at a 7-Eleven. However, police found the father was all the way back in Detroit.
Mitchell was charged with aggravated child abuse and unlawful desertion of a child. She was found guilty by a trial jury. Circuit Judge Karen Foxman said Mitchell was under the influence of marijuana, alcohol and another hard substance while taking care of her son and other children, per The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
On Jan. 31, Foxman sentenced Mitchell to 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation.