Polkton- It was a cold, dry morning on Dec. 22, 2019. The temperature hovered around 26 degrees. A woman and her infant had been sleeping in a vehicle behind the car wash at Whit’s Convenience Store in Polkton for the past couple of days. The store clerk, feeling concern for the baby, called the Sheriff’s department at 8:55 a.m. Deputy Carmen Jenkins answered the call.
Deputy Jenkins arrived on the scene and spoke to the clerk who informed her of the situation. Deputy Jenkins then went to check on the lady in the car. “When I went back there, the window was down and the car wasn’t running. I tried to speak to the lady, she was sleeping. She was out of it and the baby was in the back. I realized the baby was really small, you could tell she was just born. I knew something had to be done,” said Deputy Jenkins.
“I tried to talk to her. She told me she was waiting for the father of the child. As I kept digging, I knew something wasn’t right,” said Deputy Jenkins, “I tried to help her out. I gave her some money to go into the store to get something to eat.”
Deputy Jenkins took the baby and put her in the car with her to warm up. She noticed the baby was dehydrated from her lips and that she was wearing just a little onesie with no hat, socks, and barely any blankets. It was at that point Deputy Jenkins decided to contact DSS in order to get the lady some type of living assistance. “She did not want me to that,” said Deputy Jenkins. The lady also complained about how hot she was, despite the cold weather and the rolled-down windows.
“As I kept digging, I figured out the reason why. I drove the baby myself to the hospital to get her checked out. Literally, if the baby had sat in that car for much longer, she wouldn’t have made it. Her little body was cold and had a lot of issues going on,” said Deputy Jenkins. The infant was born with cocaine in her system.
“I did charge the mom. She’s still in jail to this day. DSS has the baby at the moment, she’s in foster care, to my understanding. DSS has pretty much taken over,” said Deputy Jenkins. It was thanks to Deputy Jenkins’s efforts that the infant is alive and well today.
Deputy Jenkins has always wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement, “I was just afraid, at first, when I did decide on it, I had to step outside my comfort zone and say, ‘okay, I’m going to do what I want. I’m going to make my life better for me and my child,’” Deputy Jenkins drove a forklift at Cascade Tissues, worked at Perdue Farms in Richmond County for two years, and was a cashier at Walmart before joining the force.
Every day is different for Deputy Jenkins, ”It might be an easy day, it might be a bad day. We really don’t know. Whenever we check 41, that’s it, it’s time to go to work.” 10-41 is the police code for Beginning Tour of Duty.
