Middletown police performed an emergency removal of an 8-year-old girl after they determined her mother was too intoxicated to care for her, according to police.
Officers responded to a residence in the 300 block of Bellemonte Street on Tuesday night after they were told that a mother may have locked her daughter out of the house.
The mother, Rachel Tietz, told police she had an altercation with her daughter after her daughter allegedly broke things in the house. At the time, police said Tietz smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.
A neighbor told police the girl came to his house and said she was hungry. He allowed her to eat dinner with his family, the report said. The neighbor told police he saw the mother chasing her daughter and locking her out of the house.
Police later found the girl in the neighborhood. The girl told police her mother sometimes hits her with a stick. The girl had a small knot on her head, according to the report. Police didn’t find additional injuries on the child, the report said.
The girl was removed and placed with her grandmother, police said. Butler County Children Services officials said they were already investigating the mother.
Tietz was charged with child endangering for locking her daughter out of the house.
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