CLAY COUNTY —Law enforcement and child welfare officials are investigating two suspects on multiple allegations after an incident at a lake north of Kansas City.
On the afternoon of June 24, two callers to the Clay County Sheriff's office reported about a vehicle pulled onto the shoulder of the W Highway bridge near Smithville Lake, according to a media release.
The callers reported a man standing over and possibly assaulting someone. When deputies got there, they found the car with some doors open but no one in sight except a toddler strapped into his car seat.
The child was red and sweating profusely. Deputies reported their in-car thermometers said the temperature was 100 to 102 degrees at the time.
Deputies quickly took the boy into one of their air-conditioned vehicles and tried to offer him water while waiting for an ambulance. Other deputies started searching the area, following a trail down to the lake.
There they saw a man and woman passed out on a blanket with an infant asleep between them. The baby appeared pale and lethargic. The deputies roused the suspects, who appeared and smelled intoxicated. Deputies took the baby into an air-conditioned vehicle, then they asked the suspects if they knew where the toddler was. They did not know.
Deputies later located a large amount of alcoholic drinks in possession of the suspects.
The children were transported to the hospital, and the Missouri Children’s Division took them into their custody. The woman suspect also was transported to the hospital for dehydration.
Charges are pending against the suspects following some lab results.