COLUMBUS – A toddler is in the custody of Franklin County Children Services and a woman, reportedly believed to be the child’s mother, is facing child-endangering charges after police say she abandoned the boy at a Circle K gas station on the West Side Thursday morning.
A witness at the gas station on Twin Creeks Drive reported that a woman wearing a hooded jacket and a face mask walked into the station with a small boy between 15-24 months of age. Lt. Brian Truax of the Columbus police Physical Abuse Unit said.
After a few minutes of walking around the store, the woman abruptly walked out of the store without the child, who ran up to the door, along with the witness, yelling for the female to come back, Truax said.
Customers at the gas pumps yelled and honked their horns to get the woman’s attention, but she just kept walking away, crossing Wilson Road and leaving the scene, Truax said.
The child was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital for a medical evaluation and after it was determined he was unharmed and in good health, he was turned over to Franklin County Children Services for safekeeping, Truax said.
The 20-year-old woman was located at approximately 7:24 p.m. at an apartment on Wilson Woods Drive and taken to police headquarter where she was interviewed by a Physical Abuse detective and charged with one misdemeanor count of endangering children, Truax said.