DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa mother is in custody after police say she was already drunk when she took her two-year-old daughter to a bar, according to WHO-TV.
Police say they responded to Miss V’s Honky Tonk Island Bar on Hubbell Avenue just before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday after a 911 call from a bartender.
Officials say 25-year-old Mary Jane Carpenter was intoxicated when she arrived at the bar with her child. While she drank at the bar with alcohol that she brought in, the toddler was running around and rolling on the floor.
A bartender was upset because Carpenter was not supervising her child. When the bartender confronted her, she slammed down her drink and began yelling obscenities, police told WHO-TV.
Carpenter left the bar with the child and a witness followed her, concerned for the child’s safety. The bartender then called police.
The witness told police Carpenter ran west on Hubbell and was acting erratically when she abandoned her child in a stroller. The witness stayed with the child and Carpenter eventually returned before police arrived.
Officers say Carpenter was clearly under the influence of alcohol and perhaps another substance. She was taken into custody at that point without incident.
A breath test administered on scene yielded a blood alcohol content of .183. A partially full water bottle containing vodka was also found in the child’s stroller.
Carpenter was allowed to comfort her child in the back of a police car while they waited for a family member to arrive to take care of the child.
While in the back of the police car, Carpenter was able to remove her handcuffs. When officers noticed, they removed the child from the back seat and Carpenter became very upset. While trying to get the toddler back, she punched the child and the officer in the face.
Carpenter was taken to the ground and handcuffed again.
Police say she is facing charges of child endangerment, assault on a police officer, and public intoxication.
