Locked in van on hot day

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A disabled woman was left locked in a hot van for about 40 minutes while her caretaker went to a tattoo parlor, police said.
Paramedics broke a window to free the unidentified 45-year-old woman, who is unable to speak and uses a wheelchair. She was treated for heat-related problems at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, police said.
The caretaker, Tamisha Howard, 21, has been fired. Police charged her with reckless endangerment and neglect of care of a dependent person.
"The first thing that went through my mind was, 'What was she thinking?"' said Robert Stack, president of Princeton, N.J.-based Community Options Inc. "I have never been so outraged."
"As soon as we were told about it, we made sure that it did in fact happen, [then] she was terminated effective immediately," Stack said.
Stack said the caretaker had been trained by Community Options, which has a Pittsburgh location, and had worked there about nine months. Community Options is investigating legal action against Howard, he said.
Police said the caretaker told them that she went to the tattoo parlor around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday because of a problem with an old tattoo. The temperature was in the high 80s around that time.