“My reaction was absolutely disgusted you could be that inebriated that we can’t wake you up,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood tells Inside Edition.
A Georgia couple, who authorities say were drunk, were found sleeping on a Florida beach while their children were left unattended.
A 911 caller alerted authorities that the parents had passed out and the two kids that were with them were by themselves.
Body camera footage shows an officer approaching the couple on Daytona Beach. Beer cans were littered around them.
The sheriff shook the couple awake and asked them where their kids were.
The woman pointed and told officers, “They’re right there,” but the 5 and 7-year-old were nowhere to be seen.
The man walked to the water’s edge to look for the kids but could not find them.
So much time had passed that the kids had wandered away from the beach. Deputies found them at a nearby hotel where they were found safe by a pool.
Deputies placed the couple in handcuffs and charged them with child neglect.
Body camera footage showed the man running away with his hands cuffed behind his back. He did not get very far as he tripped and fell face-first into the sand and knocked himself out.
Hours later, his mugshot showed his bruised and scraped face.
“My reaction was absolutely disgusted you could be that inebriated that we can’t wake you up,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood tells Inside Edition. “Thank God those kids didn’t get into the ocean, we have horrible rip currents here.”
