Elyria police say mom left infant, 3-year-old home alone to go to bar

ELYRIA, Ohio - An Elyria woman was arrested on Sunday after police said she left two young children home alone while she went to a nearby bar.

A concerned neighbor called Elyria police to the apartments on Washington Avenue at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday when a 3-year-old girl was discovered crying on a balcony.

After knocking on the apartment door with no success, Elyria police used a door spreader to get to the child.

Police said the sliding door to the balcony was open, but the screen door was off its tracks, preventing the toddler from going back inside. According to the police report, the little girl was standing outside in the rain for almost an hour.

Officers soon found a 2-month-old girl sleeping in a full size bed inside the same apartment, the police report said. The baby was covered in blankets in an extremely hot bedroom and she was sweating profusely, according to officers. Both children were checked out by paramedics and were alright.

While on the scene, police saw a woman, later identified as Resha Logan, 28, running through the apartment building’s parking lot. Police said Logan is the infant’s mother and the toddler’s aunt. Logan told police that she was only gone 10 minutes while her 14-year-old nephew watched the children. But her nephew wasn’t at home and neighbors reported the girl was outside for about an hour.

Logan changed her story when confronted by police. The police report said Logan told officers she left 30 minutes ago to go to Ely’s Inn and had “one beer and one shot.” Soon, Logan’s mother, who smelled of alcohol, returned to the apartment, police said.

Lorain County Children Services determined Logan’s mother was not fit to care for the 2-month-old. Caseworkers returned the 3-year-old to her mother, who later arrived at the apartment from Lorain, and put the infant in the custody of her great-grandmother.

Logan was arrested and taken to the Elyria City Jail, where she was charged with two counts of child endangering.