KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two teams of officers were called out to two separate locations Thursday morning after four children were found alone in Kansas City, Mo.
The first child, a three-year-old boy, was in a diaper and was running across six lanes of traffic on Southwest Trafficway when a woman spotted him. The driver said she nearly hit him, stopped and called police.
“Because of the nature of where he was found, this could have really turned out bad,” said officer Doug Harr. “Anybody that takes Southwest Trafficway on a regular basis knows kind of the speeds involved and people just involved in too many other things other than driving.”
After noon, police said they located the boy’s mother. She was being interviewed by investigators with the Division of Family Services. The boy was released into the custody of his aunt at about 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Police said the boy has a birthday and will turn four next month.
The mother had tried to child proof her home, but the toddler managed to crawl through a first-floor window. She was ticketed for child endangerment and will appear in court in the coming days.
Before that and before the arrival of the Division of Family Services’ representative, police officers on the scene were taking care of him.
“He’s very energetic. He seems to be doing fine. He’s kind of hard to contain, but we’ve done our best,” the police officer told FOX 4’s Kathy Quinn.
Law enforcement authorities believe the child’s mother did not do anything wrong. The child apparently climbed out the window and his mother didn’t realize it. The boy is a handful and she tried to child proof the house to make sure something like this wouldn’t happen.
In a separate investigation, police responded to the area of 76th and Monroe where another child was found alone outside at about 11:20 a.m. on Thursday. The child is between one and two years old, according to authorities. Twin infants were also found alone inside that location at Hillcrest Village Apartments.
Police spoke to the mother, who told them she was a few doors down visiting a friend. She told police she thought the kids were asleep and said she was only gone for 10 to 15 minutes. She was not arrested.
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