ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — A woman has been charged with endangering children after a mental health crisis turned violent.
According to the Ross County Sheriff’s Office, on June 6, around 7:30 PM, 9-1-1 dispatchers received a call about a female with an altered mental status attempting to harm her children at a residence on Blue Lick Road.
Upon arrival, deputies spoke with the woman who was holding a 5-month-old infant. The woman told deputies that she had been drugged and believed that someone had put “poison in her baby’s bottle.” Deputies in their report said they attempted to get the woman to hand the infant over to another adult. That is when she allegedly told her 7-year-old child to “start praying” because they were in danger.
At one point, the deputies said, the woman began yelling for help and demanded her grandmother “drop to her knees and pray to God.”
Deputies said the woman was holding the infant so tightly that their legs began turning blue. Troopers from the Ohio Highway Patrol, the report states, arrived on the scene and assisted deputies in removing the infant from the woman’s grasp.
Medics from Harrison Township were also requested to the scene to evaluate the infant. The child was then transported to Adena Regional Medical Center for evaluation.
The mother was then placed into custody. While in the back of the cruiser, the deputy reported that the woman made threats to poison and kill the deputy’s children. Child Protective Services were also advised of the case and responded. The children were then left in the care of their great-grandmother.
The woman was subsequently put on involuntary medical hold at Adena Regional Medical Center. She now faces charges of Child Endangering. The woman’s name was redacted in the report by the Ross County Sheriff’s Office.
If you or someone you know is in a mental health crisis, there is help. Call or text 988 to be connected with local resources.