A passerby climbed through a stranger's sunroof to remove a crying child from a hot car Monday afternoon in Hingham, Massachusetts, police said. A criminal complaint has been filed against the child's mother.

It happened in the Whole Foods parking lot on Derby Street shortly after 2:30 p.m. Police said they were called for a report of a child left alone in a car. A couple who parked next to the car said they heard a child inside screaming for their mother. The windows were closed and the engine was off, but the sunroof was left open. 

After the couple called 911, they said one of them climbed in through the sunroof to unlock the car and take the child out. When officers arrived, they said the child was hot and sweating. The child was placed in an air conditioned police cruiser.

The mother, a 44-year-old from Brockton, returned and told police the 22-month-old child was napping and that she was checking on them in between shopping at several stores in the shopping center. Police found she had last checked on the car 20 minutes earlier.

The child was taken to South Shore Hospital to be checked out. Their condition is not known.

A criminal complaint application was filed at Hingham District Court against the mother for reckless endangerment of a child. A court date has not been set.

Police said the mother's name is not being released because she has not been formally charged.