After a second emergency call regarding the same unattended toddler, that had been seen wondering alone on a busy section of road in East Alton, police have arrested the child's parents and charged them both with child endangerment, among other charges, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A concerned citizen driving by stopped to assist the two-year-old boy, dressed only in a dirty diaper, at the intersection of Airline Drive and North 9th Street. The boy, repeating the same response when picked up a month ago, pointed to a house close by and said, "Mommy."
In an earlier incident on September 2, the boy told a sheriff that picked him up where his mother lived.
In both incidents the child had not been harmed, but in this second event, the parents were both arrested and the boy, along with a younger brother, have been handed over to a state child service agency for protection.
Captain T. Mike Dixon, with the Madison County Sheriff's Department, said, "It's a serious, serious situation."
The second incident occurred on October 17 at approximately 8 a.m. Deputies that arrived on scene followed the child's pointed finger to a home on Fern Lane – less than 300 feet from where the boy was found.
The boy's father, N.W., 28, was discovered asleep in the home. Detectives noted that the home had a bad urine smell and was in poor shape. N.W. was arrested on two misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and taken to the Madison County jail. His bail has been set for $300.
Seemingly unrelated, while the police were arresting N.W. they received a call of a drunken driver in the neighborhood. Within moments the vehicle that had been described pulled up and parked in the driveway of the same home.
The child's mother, K.R., 25, was driving the vehicle. Police reported that K.R. was under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana. She was charged with felony DUI while driving with a revoked or suspended license. Her bail has been set for $15,000.
The spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Dave Clarkin, said hat the two children "…have been placed in a loving home. We have opened an investigation into an allegation of neglect, which is pending."
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had been alerted at the time of the September 2 incident.
Capt. Dixon added, "It's a busy, four-lane roadway, an east-west intersection and at that hour you can have sun in your eyes, so it's very dangerous."
K.R. claimed that she had been driving around looking for her son, though she had failed to notify the police of this, in the September 2 incident. However, while K.R. was looking for her two-year-old son she left her one-year-old son at home alone.
K.R. was charged with both marijuana possession and child endangerment in the September case and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services allowed the mother to retain custody.
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