Mother charged with neglect after toddlers found roaming the streets, playing with scissors

COLUMBUS — A mother is facing neglect charges after police found her passed out on drugs while her young children were running the streets and playing with scissors.

Officers with the Columbus Police Department were called to the area of Smith Street and McKinley Avenue just before 6 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a young toddler playing in the road.

Arriving officers found the toddler with a soiled diaper and a large cut on his ankle that was bleeding heavily, according to a release sent by the police department.

A witness told police that she had seen another small child playing in front of a nearby residence, which had the door ajar and officers went to that home to try to find the child's parents.

A second small child came to the door holding a large pair of scissors, according to police. Officers entered the home after several unsuccessful attempts to call out to the child's mother and found her unconscious on the living room couch.

Officers also observed a broken beer mug and a baseball bat covered in barbed wire within reach of the toddlers inside the home.

After waking the 29-year-old woman, she told officers the two toddlers were hers and she had used methamphetamine earlier that day.

The woman was arrested and is a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent.

The children were placed into the custody of the Department of Child Services.