On 10-07-16 at approximately 9:20 PM, police department staff were working a special detail at the Bret Harte High School football game.School staff notified an officer that an apparently lost three year old child was located. School staff advised that two young children found the three year old wandering on the sidewalk on Murphys Grade Road, near the student parking lot.
After some announcements over the school public address system, the parents of the child were located. The parents advised that the child's grandmother was supposed to be watching the 3 year old, as well as another 2 year old sibling. An officer and two police explorers were dispatched to the student parking lot on Murphys Grade Road to begin checking that area for the 2 year old and the grandmother. The grandmother and the 2 year old were located in the student parking lot, inside their vehicle.
Further investigation revealed that the grandmother took the young children to the vehicle and apparently fell asleep. The 3 year old was able to open the door of the vehicle and walk away from the vehicle while the grandmother was sleeping, and after wandering through the parking lot was eventually found near the roadway edge on Murphys Grade Road.
Due to the large number of vehicles in the parking lot that posed a danger to the unsupervised 3 year old child, as well as the vehicle traffic on Murphys Grade Road, the grandmother was arrested for child endangerment.
Heidi R. Hayner, a 52 year old Rail Road Flat resident, was arrested on a felony charge related to child endangerment. The children were released to the custody of their parents.
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