Hallie Elizabeth Amick of Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested on Monday, August 8, after her young son was found alone in a back yard.
The two-year-old was sucking on a frozen chicken breast.
Amick, 30, was charged with child endangerment causing physical injury and drug possession after police were made aware of the situation.
An officer stopped Amick’s boyfriend for speeding, and the man told police he was rushing home because a child had been left alone.
Another officer was sent to check the house and found the child alone in the yard, with a full diaper, sucking on a frozen chicken breast.
A small dog, a terrier, was jumping at the boy, trying to get the chicken, police said, and sadly, this incident may not have been the first.
Their neighbor told the Des Moines Register that she has previously seen the dog bite the little boy, and the boy hit the dog with sticks.
“His diaper was almost down to his knees,” said Deborah Snyder, 57, who sees the yard from her apartment window (above and below).
Police who searched the home in question found a marijuana pipe, “blunts” and marijuana stems there, according to the Iowa newspaper.
Amick returned home almost two hours after the cops were called, claiming it was the first and only time she had left her child unattended.
Not according to her neighbor, however.
Snyder said Amick often leaves the child alone at home, which seems even more difficult to believe than leaving children in a hot car.
“This is the first time he got out of the house, but ever since they moved in they (left) him alone,” Snyder said of the troubling situation.
Again, not necessarily the case.
Another neighbor told police she once found the child alone in the middle of the street at one point, which would be a hard sight to invent.
Once confronted with the statements regarding her negligence made by her neighbors, Amick admitted she left the child alone on “occasion.”
The Iowa Department of Human Services was dispatched to the scene, but would not discuss the custody of the 2-year-old at this time.
Amick was released from jail after her first court hearing this week, and has declined public comment on the matter for obvious reasons.
The boyfriend may face charges as well, officials say.
La Baccam, who lives next to the house, says she heard the baby crying for a long time outside, but she thought the mother was home.
“I don’t know how in the world this mother can leave a baby like that,” Baccam said, echoing the sentiments of anyone reading this.
“If I knew that had happened, I’d ask police if I could keep the baby for myself, because I feel so sad for that baby.”