Intoxicated Babysitter Arrested After Kids Wander Alone: Police

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Middletown woman was arrested after police say two young children she was babysitting were found wandering unsupervised in an apartment complex parking lot only in their underwear while she was inside intoxicated, according to police. At about 2:25 p.m. on June 14, police responded to the apartment complex and found a juvenile running barefoot through the parking lot, wearing only underwear, while another juvenile was on the second-story balcony calling down to the other juvenile, according to the police report.

While police were talking to the boy in the parking lot, the other boy came downstairs and said they were brothers and “Miss Angela” was babysitting them, according to the report. The babysitter was later identified as Angela Ginty, 40, whose voice police said they could hear coming from the open door that led to the second-story balcony.

Police waited downstairs to see how long it would take for Ginty to become worried and begin to look for the children. After about 5 minutes passed, police decided that she wouldn’t be calling or looking for the children and then brought them upstairs to the apartment. One of the boys opened the door and invited the officers in and called out Ginty’s name.

Police found Ginty talking on the phone while sitting in a chair and had “severe slurred speech, glossy eyes, was unstable on her feet and continuously repeated herself,” according to the report. While police were talking to Ginty, one of the boys took a piece of ice from a blue cup that had alcohol in it. Ginty denied being intoxicated and said that she had one cup of wine. Police found a box of Franzia Sunset Blush wine in the refrigerator, which has a 9-percent alcohol content by volume, according to the report.

Police had Ginty call the children’s mother and while waiting for her to return home, officers found the children were “uncontrollable” by Ginty.

“I observed Juvenile #2 walk out onto the balcony, move a semi-dislodged wrung [sic], and stand with half his body outside the railing,” an officer wrote in the report. “I quickly pulled Juvenile #2 back onto the balcony, guided him into the apartment and locked the door to the balcony.”

Ginty, who police said continuously apologized for the incident, was arrested on three counts of risk of injury to a minor. Police said two of the counts were for the children being allowed to roam freely in the parking lot and the other was for having easy access to alcohol in the apartment. Ginty was released after posting a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on June 28, according to state judicial records.

Image via Shutterstock