Police: Drunk mother brings toddler to bar, punches police officer

DES MOINES, Iowa (KWQC) – A Des Moines woman is in custody after a series of events involving the endangerment of her 2-year-old.

Police were dispatched to Miss V’s Honky Tonk Island bar in Des Moines just before 3:30 p.m. on July 27, after a bartender reported a woman in a bikini top and denim shorts was not supervising her child. Mary Carpenter, 25, was highly intoxicated and had allowed her child to run around the bar and roll on the dirty floor. When the bartender confronted her, Carpenter became very upset, slamming her drink down and yelling obscenities. She then left the bar with her child.

A witness, concerned for the child’s welfare, followed Carpenter while the bartender called police. Carpenter then abandoned the child in a stroller and began running down the street. The witness stayed with the child until police arrived. Carpenter then returned, highly upset and clearly under the influence of alcohol and possibly another substance.

Police placed Carpenter in custody without incident and found a partially full bottle of vodka in the child’s stroller. An initial breathalyzer test recorded a blood alcohol content of 0.183.

Carpenter was allowed to sit with her child in the backseat of the police car while officers waited for a family member to arrive to take custody of the child. Carpenter slipped out of her handcuffs, and when officers noticed, they took the child away from her, causing Carpenter to become very upset. In an attempt to take control of the child, she punched both her child and a police officer in the face. Neither was injured. Carpenter was taken to the ground and cuffed by officers again.

Carpenter’s family member soon arrived to take the child, and Carpenter was transported to Polk County Jail. She is facing charges of child endangerment, assault on a police officer, and public intoxication.