Dual867PowerMac
July 27th, 2009, 5:01 pm
A 2-year-old girl and her 8-month-old brother missing for more than 14 hours overnight were found alive Monday morning, July 27, in a trash can outside a local business.
Baron Bates, 23, of Beavercreek, and Dale Felty, owner of Felty Electric, found the children in a city-issued trash can behind his business at the corner of East Second Street and North Clinton streets.
The children were in the trash cans for about 13 hours, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said.
Detectives said the father of the girl, Tommie Lee Johnson Jr., 39, took the kids Sunday night and might have dumped them in the trash can.
Bates said he arrived at the site about 8 a.m. and thought he heard children crying.
“I thought I was just hearing things,” he said.
Bates left to go pick up some electrical supplies and came back about 8:25 a.m. He said he continued to hear crying so he looked inside the trash can.
“He pointed at me to come over and he was pointing down in the trash can,” Felty said. “I looked down and couldn’t believe it. Those kids were in there and I just reached down and grabbed (8-month-old Tommie Johnson III).”
Bates said the girl, 2-year-old Ashonti Johnson, standing up in the trash, was covered in mud and sweating profusely, reached out to him. Felty said Tommie Johnson III, who is not the biological son of Tommie Johnson Jr., was also covered in mud and sweating.
The men gave the children water and Little Debbie treats until paramedics arrived.
Biehl said the children, “were in very good condition.”
They seemed to be doing remarkably well, he said.
The children were transported to Dayton Children’s Hospital by ambulance.
“All things considered this was incredibly fortunate,” Biehl said.
He said it could have been much more severe if the morning had been hotter or the night colder.
“They obviously weren’t dressed to deal with the elements,” Biehl said.
A stroller matching the one used by the suspect when he took the kids was found in a dumpster near where the kids were found.
Sgt. Tom Flanders said he is reviewing surveillance video of someone discarding the stroller in the dumpster.
Biehl gave credit to the alertness of employees at Felty Electric. They paid attention to what was going on in their surroundings and they called police promptly, he said.
Biehl said this particular case did not fit the case for issuing an Amber Alert.
Tommie Johnson Jr., was arrested at 2 a.m. Monday on felony charges of domestic violence, child endangering and inducing panic, according to Montgomery County Jail records.
Police began searching Sunday night about 7:30 p.m. for the two young children who were taken by Tommie Johnson Jr., who is in a relationship with their mother, Alisha Whitehead, 27 of Miami Twp.
Whitehead held a press conference at Dayton Children shortly before 11 a.m. today. She said the children had been cleaned up by time she reached the hospital. She said the girl had some suspicious marks on her back and face and appeared to be frightened but was physically OK.
She said that she and Johnson, who she described as the father of the girl who was in her life off and on, were at the house of friends in Dayton when he took off with the children.
She said he had been drinking a lot and had taken some of her prescription medication. They got into an argument and he put his hands on her and was trying to choke her. The friends put him out and he took the children with him saying he was not going to let her have them. She said she did not go after the children but stayed inside and called the police because he did not threaten to harm the children. She did not learn that he had been found without the children until later when she went down to the police station.
“I never knew he would do something like this,” she said.
The couple got into an argument about 7 p.m. Johnson apparently took the children and was last seen walking on North Cherrywood Avenue toward East Third Street. Tommie Johnson III was in the broken stroller police found in the dumpster Monday morning.
After Whitehead called police, they said they found Tommie Johnson Jr. an hour later walking alone on North Garfield Street.
The father, who was intoxicated and has a history of drug use and domestic violence, refused to tell police where the children were, Johns said.
Story (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/children-found-alive-in-trash-can-222717.html)
It's a miracle these two angels are still alive.
Baron Bates, 23, of Beavercreek, and Dale Felty, owner of Felty Electric, found the children in a city-issued trash can behind his business at the corner of East Second Street and North Clinton streets.
The children were in the trash cans for about 13 hours, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said.
Detectives said the father of the girl, Tommie Lee Johnson Jr., 39, took the kids Sunday night and might have dumped them in the trash can.
Bates said he arrived at the site about 8 a.m. and thought he heard children crying.
“I thought I was just hearing things,” he said.
Bates left to go pick up some electrical supplies and came back about 8:25 a.m. He said he continued to hear crying so he looked inside the trash can.
“He pointed at me to come over and he was pointing down in the trash can,” Felty said. “I looked down and couldn’t believe it. Those kids were in there and I just reached down and grabbed (8-month-old Tommie Johnson III).”
Bates said the girl, 2-year-old Ashonti Johnson, standing up in the trash, was covered in mud and sweating profusely, reached out to him. Felty said Tommie Johnson III, who is not the biological son of Tommie Johnson Jr., was also covered in mud and sweating.
The men gave the children water and Little Debbie treats until paramedics arrived.
Biehl said the children, “were in very good condition.”
They seemed to be doing remarkably well, he said.
The children were transported to Dayton Children’s Hospital by ambulance.
“All things considered this was incredibly fortunate,” Biehl said.
He said it could have been much more severe if the morning had been hotter or the night colder.
“They obviously weren’t dressed to deal with the elements,” Biehl said.
A stroller matching the one used by the suspect when he took the kids was found in a dumpster near where the kids were found.
Sgt. Tom Flanders said he is reviewing surveillance video of someone discarding the stroller in the dumpster.
Biehl gave credit to the alertness of employees at Felty Electric. They paid attention to what was going on in their surroundings and they called police promptly, he said.
Biehl said this particular case did not fit the case for issuing an Amber Alert.
Tommie Johnson Jr., was arrested at 2 a.m. Monday on felony charges of domestic violence, child endangering and inducing panic, according to Montgomery County Jail records.
Police began searching Sunday night about 7:30 p.m. for the two young children who were taken by Tommie Johnson Jr., who is in a relationship with their mother, Alisha Whitehead, 27 of Miami Twp.
Whitehead held a press conference at Dayton Children shortly before 11 a.m. today. She said the children had been cleaned up by time she reached the hospital. She said the girl had some suspicious marks on her back and face and appeared to be frightened but was physically OK.
She said that she and Johnson, who she described as the father of the girl who was in her life off and on, were at the house of friends in Dayton when he took off with the children.
She said he had been drinking a lot and had taken some of her prescription medication. They got into an argument and he put his hands on her and was trying to choke her. The friends put him out and he took the children with him saying he was not going to let her have them. She said she did not go after the children but stayed inside and called the police because he did not threaten to harm the children. She did not learn that he had been found without the children until later when she went down to the police station.
“I never knew he would do something like this,” she said.
The couple got into an argument about 7 p.m. Johnson apparently took the children and was last seen walking on North Cherrywood Avenue toward East Third Street. Tommie Johnson III was in the broken stroller police found in the dumpster Monday morning.
After Whitehead called police, they said they found Tommie Johnson Jr. an hour later walking alone on North Garfield Street.
The father, who was intoxicated and has a history of drug use and domestic violence, refused to tell police where the children were, Johns said.
Story (http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/children-found-alive-in-trash-can-222717.html)
It's a miracle these two angels are still alive.