Woman Took Sleeping Pills Before Drive Over to Watch Grandkids: Police

Mixing sleeping pills and driving landed charges for a Milwaukee woman who told police she only remembers bits and pieces of the drive over to watch her grandchildren earlier this month.

The 44-year-old Milwaukee woman was charged Sunday with three misdemeanor counts of child neglect after court documents say she hit two mailboxes while driving, left the scene and was later found by police unconscious in a Greenfield house where she was supposed to be babysitting her three grandchildren, six-years-old and younger.

She told Greenfield police she had ingested three sleeping pills, and only remembers portions of the incident, court documents show. 

She entered a not guilty plea during a court hearing on Tuesday, according to online court records. 

Patch is not naming the suspect to protect the identity of the children.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police received a 911 call on July 12 at 8:11 p.m. about a female driver striking two mailboxes, and driving off through a yard near the intersection of South 91st Street and West Plainfield Avenue in Greenfield.

Police spoke with witnesses who provided a description of the vehicle and a possible location. Law enforcement surveyed the area and found a car matching the description at a Greenfield house in the 8900 block of West Coldspring Road.

An officer knocked on the back door of the home, but received no answer. After a second knock on the door, a small child peeked through a window, court documents show. 

Eventually, a different child opened the door and the officer entered the home to conduct a welfare check of the children, according to the criminal complaint. 

The officer observed a woman, the driver of the car, sleeping on a couch and attempted to wake her up. The officer had to poke the woman several times to wake her up, and when she did, she was very groggy, lethargic and disoriented, the court documents say.

Police attempted to speak with her, but she kept falling in and out of consciousness, the criminal complaint says. 

The woman later admitted to driving the car that hit the mailboxes, court documents say. 

She told police she was likely with her grandchildren aged six, three and one, for about 15 minutes before police arrived, the criminal complaint states.

She is due in court Aug. 8 for a pre-trial conference, according to online court records.