Orange County mom released on bail after toddler falls out of moving car

An Orange County mother was released from custody Tuesday after she was arrested for child endangerment following a heart-stopping incident in the middle of a Fullerton intersection.

Jacqueline Hernandez, 35, was arrested last Saturday after her 19-month-old toddler tumbled out of her moving SUV at the intersection of N. Euclid Street and W. Malvern Avenue, according to the Fullerton Police Department.

The vehicle immediately stopped, and Hernandez came out of the car and picked up the little boy from the ground, according to video that circulated on social media.

Hernandez posted $100,000 bail at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The woman’s 19-month-old boy was treated and released from the hospital, police said. It was not immediately clear whether the toddler is back in the care of Hernandez.

As the video footage in question went viral, a witness reached out to the Fullerton Police Department over the weekend, leading investigators to arrest Hernandez.

“I felt a mixture of emotions anywhere from anger, to worry to shock because it’s something that could have easily been avoidable,” the witness, Natalie Quintanilla, said Tuesday.

The initial incident happened on  Jan. 20, but police said no one reported it until Quintanilla, a mother of four children, reached out to them.

Hernandez’s neighbor, who declined to be identified for privacy, defended the La Habra mom, saying “sometimes we do make mistakes.”

“I can almost guarantee you there’s no way that will happen again with her. No way,” the neighbor said.

Hernandez was yet to be officially charged by the Orange County district attorney’s office, which told NBC Los Angeles that it’s reviewing the case.