The mother left the 5-month-old home alone while she drank, Mesa police said

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Police said a woman left her 5-month-old baby home alone to go outside in Mesa on Thursday. Police stopped 23-year-old Clare Margaret Meacham in the area of ​​Gilbert and Baseline roads around 2:20 p.m. after receiving calls about a possible drunk driver. After being handcuffed for the alleged DUI, Meacham told officers she may have left the baby home alone, according to court documents. Officers went to his home in east Mesa, near Signal Butte and Ray roads, and said they could hear a child crying outside the home. The police entered the home, got the child, then called the Department of Child Safety and waited for a family member to take care of the uninjured child.

Police said they checked Meacham’s doorbell camera video and it indicated she left the home at 12:44 a.m., more than 2 hours before police found the baby. Meacham told police she put her child in the baby crib and didn’t remember anything afterward, records show, and didn’t try to contact anyone while she went out to see her child. She lives alone with the child and the only other person who has access to the house is her mother. Meacham was arrested for DUI and child abuse.

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