By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – A couple was arrested Nov. 7 after their two young children burned themselves with hot water while trapped in a bathtub.
According to a police report, the couple, a 24-year-old woman and her 28-year-old boyfriend, allegedly were under the influence of prescription pills when their children, a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, became trapped in the bathtub in their house in the 300 block of Kings Highway due to the bathtub’s glass door being closed.
The children suffered severe burns to their feet and police and Wyandotte firefighters saw redness and minor swelling on all areas of their feet. They were transported to Children’s Hospital for treatment and were released shortly after.
Both parents were arrested but have not been charged, Police Chief Dan Grant said.
“The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has the entire file,” he said. “The prosecutor’s working on getting the hospital records before making a decision in the case.”
The children are in the custody of their grandparents and the parents have been instructed not to return to the house, Grant said.
The children’s maternal grandfather, with whom the couple live, told police he heard screaming and crying for about five minutes about 4 p.m. that day and yelled for his daughter and her boyfriend to quiet the children down. When no one answered, he ran upstairs and saw steam coming out of the bathroom.
“The children were huddled together in the back corner of the tub unable to get out on their own due to the sliding doors blocking them,” the report said.
He said the children’s father was sitting on the toilet unresponsive and “not doing anything to help the kids.” The grandfather grabbed the children from the tub.
The grandfather told police the couple had been “on a three-day bender.” Police found 50 Vicodin and 51 Xanax pills both prescribed to the 28-year-old man in his pockets and in prescription bottles listed as containing 90 and 60 pills, respectively, and filled that day.
The grandmother, who told police she came home after the incident, told police the two are “always high.”
The children’s father and mother both had slurred speech and were unsteady on their feet while officers interviewed them. The mother said she did not check on the children because she was getting clothes for them and thought they may have bumped their heads.
According to the report, the father did not explain to police why he did not remove the children from the tub.