Catoosa Police body camera footage shows officers arresting a woman they say left her 16-month-old child in her car for more than five hours while she gambled at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Police say
Dacie Yeager told them she had only been inside for 20 minutes, but they say surveillance video at the casino showed otherwise.
Police say this was reckless and irresponsible as a parent. They say Yeager got to the Hard Rock at 9:30 in the morning and never came back out to check on her child until police found the child just before 3 p.m.
The body camera video shows police rescuing the baby out of the car in the parking lot of the casino. Police say security noticed the car running and found the baby locked inside. As police were investigating, they say Yeager, ran out of the Casino.
"The mom said she had given birth to the child early, it has some medical problem, has a feeding tube that hadn't been addressed, when they got to the hospital the child had a filthy diaper,” said Chief
Ronnie Benight with Catoosa Police.
Police say Yeager gave them several different stories about what happened, but police say casino staff watched the surveillance video and it showed Yeager went inside in the morning and never left.
Chief Benight says unfortunately they investigate cases where kids are accidentally left in cars, but he says this was intentional which he says, makes it even worse.
"How irresponsible can you be? If you've got a problem, get help. Especially if it is to the point where you are endangering your children,” said Benight. "Somebody could break into your car and steal the car, car could quit running, the air conditioning could stop,”
Yeager bonded out of jail but has now been charged with child neglect. Police say the child is okay and is now in the care of child welfare.
