3 kids taken into protective custody

By ERIC MEYER

Staff writer

A brief but tense standoff Saturday afternoon in the drive-thru lane at Wendy’s in Hillsboro led to the jailing of a 39-year-old women who had fled domestic violence in Oklahoma, was evicted Friday from a Kansas shelter for drinking, and now is facing multiple charges including child endangerment.

Workers at the drive-thru notified dispatchers at 1:55 p.m. Saturday that the woman had driven up drunk with three young children in her car.

Hillsboro officer Duane McCarty was sent to investigate but had trouble getting the woman and the children out of the car.

He called for emergency backup from sheriff’s deputy Bruce Burke, several miles away, then asked for more rapid backup from off-duty Hillsboro officers.

“I need another unit NOW!” McCarty told dispatchers at 2:03 p.m. “I can’t get her out without hurting her. I need some help getting the kids out.”

Assistant chief Randy Brazil, who had worked the night before, was called back on duty, but before he or Burke arrived, McCarty resolved the situation.

He reported that three children, ages 1, 5, and 9, had safely been relocated inside the restaurant, and that the woman, who had acted irrationally and refused to obey his commands to park, had been placed in his squad car.

Four small plastic bottles containing alcohol reportedly were discovered in her vehicle.

A county ambulance supervisor who heard police calls about the incident went to Wendy’s to check on the condition of the children.

One of them was taken to St. Luke Hospital in Marion for what police described as a pre-existing but untreated medical condition. All three eventually were transferred to juvenile authorities in Junction City via a juvenile intake facility in Marion.

The 39-year-old woman was taken to county jail, where her name and current town of residence are listed, as required by law, on the public jail roster.

At the request of Hillsboro police, the newspaper is not publishing this information so as not to alert her Oklahoma abuser as to her whereabouts at an area shelter for abused women.

He was incarcerated at the time of her arrest but might search for her name on the Internet after his release.

“From the information that has been passed on to the department,” Chief Jessey Hiebert said, “the domestics have been very violent and have gone on for many years.  As with most domestic abusers, their violence tends to increase each time it happens.

“Our concern was that when the male gets out of jail, he is going to be on the hunt for her.  We worry about her safety and also that of her children.”

According to monitored transmissions, the license plate on the car she had been driving was checked the day before in connection with her eviction from a shelter.

The woman was released from county jail Monday morning after posting a $10,000 bond. She reportedly was attempting to reclaim her vehicle from a Marion impoundment lot.

Police have recommended to County Attorney Joel Ensey that she be charged with interfering with law enforcement, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, transporting an open container of alcohol, three counts of child endangerment, and a single count of aggravated child endangerment.

“I feel for those poor kids,” Hiebert said.  “No child should have to be raised in a house of domestic violence.   I often wonder how a child like that will know what it means to care for and respect another.  It is a sad situation that is more common than you and I will ever know.”