Two Children Left on the Side of the Road in Winder

A sanitation worker who was just passing by picked up two children in Winder after their mother kicked them out of the car and threw their belongings on the road, said.

The incident began in the area of Patrick Mill Road and Matthews School Road, where a caller told police that a woman inside a blue Ford Escape was hitting two children. 

Police attempted to stop the Escape, but the vehicle did not stop until reaching the intersection of Carl Bethlehem Road and Hayman Morris Road, where the driver of the Escape got out of her car, approached the driver's window of an SUV that had stopped in front of her and began cursing at the SUV driver.

Officers stepped in, and the woman told them she wanted to know who the man in the SUV was because he had her kids in his car.

The driver of the SUV, a sanitation worker, stated that he was on his way home from work when he saw the children standing on the side of the road and also noted a woman throwing items from the vehicle. The man told police the children were trying to put the items back in the car but the woman continued to throw them back out. The woman then got into her Escape and left the children on the side of Patrick Mill Road.

The two children confirmed the story, telling police that their mother told them she did not want them anymore and had attempted to punch them while in the car. The children stated that their mother then threw their belongings out of the car. One child, a boy, reported that his mother grabbed him by his head and face and physically removed him from the car.

The SUV driver told police he stopped at the scene and asked the children if he could give them a ride. The driver reported the children told him where their grandmother lived and he was transporting them to her house when their mother began following him. He told police he didn't feel comfortable stopping for the woman, after the way he had seen her treat the children, until he safely reached the grandmother's house.

According to the police report, the Escape driver, who was then waiting inside her vehicle, stated that she wasn't going to tell the police anything. She then rolled her window up, locked the doors and refused to speak with officers. The police officer informed the woman that if she did not cooperate he would arrest her for obstruction and enter her vehicle and take her into custody. The driver then partially rolled down her window and the officer reached into the car and opened the door himself. The woman was taken into custody, at which time she told the officer she was tired of her children disobeying and she felt threatened by them.

The woman was transported to the , where she was charged with two counts of simple assault, two counts of cruelty toward children in the first degree, one count of simple battery and one count of misdemeanor obstruction of law enforcement.

The children, from Dekalb County, were placed into the custody of their grandmother.

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