Police responded to a call about an abandoned toddler outside a massive fitness center who was looking for her mom. After hours of searching, the police found the 2-year-old’s home. When officers arrived at the residence, the mother was unaware that her child was gone. She got on a call with her mother to show that she was worried. Frantically, she said, “I fell asleep. I fell asleep. Mom, they have her.”
Meanwhile, she hadn’t even called 911 for help. She further said, “I just noticed that I woke up and she was gone. I don’t know how she got out.” The officer told her, “We’ve had her since about 10:30 this morning.” At that point, the mother blamed the apartment complex for not letting her use the safety gate outside the home. According to a previous court order, she had asked the apartment complex owners to allow her to install the gate.
The officer realized this wasn’t the first time the child had gone missing. She told the officer it happened six months ago, and CPS got involved to ensure the toddler was safe. The officers spotted a pattern of neglect where the mom was asleep and did not know where her child was. A neighbor also intervened during the investigation and added more information about the court order.
They had to call the grandmother of the child to prevent her from going into foster care. The police also talked to the assistant manager, who pointed out, “So, they’re not allowed to put up any sort of gate in our property. So, as you see, all of our patios have an opening due to fire inspection and fire hazard. They’re not allowed to. She recently asked the community manager for a reasonable accommodation form for us to place the gate.” The officer also suspected that the mother was not completely sober.
Furthermore, the manager revealed that earlier that week, maintenance workers found the toddler left completely unattended while replacing cabinets.
“The baby was in the apartment alone. Mom was gone. And then mom came home and said, ‘Oh, let me get my daughter out of the room.'”
— Responding officer, relaying maintenance worker’s account, Youtube
The mother made excuses when the officers wanted to check her for d–g use. She wanted to drink water and wait a while before submitting her sample. Officers took the mother into custody and probably charged her with child endangerment.
The bodycam video has over 22K views. One viewer called out the mother’s negligence, “That child should be taken away from her. If this is the 2nd time, she should be arrested for neglect.”
One more posted, “I am always amazed when someone gets on the phone, in front of the police, pleads their case to friends or family, in front of the police, thinking that that will sway the eavesdropping cop. It’s a lame duck tactic. So lame.”
One hands-on parent commented, “Our kid learned how to get out of his crib (for the first time) and defeat the childproof doorknob (for the first time) one Sunday morning. We ran out the open front door and found him visiting the neighbor’s next door.”
Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public video record.
