GLENDALE, Arizona — Police say a mother was so drunk she had no idea her toddler was suffocating just feet away from her.
Officers responded to a home near 67th Avenue and Cholla Street just before 11 p.m. on August 1 after a 911 caller reported a young child trapped inside while the mother lay unconscious.
When officers arrived, smoke had already filled the residence.
What Officers Found Inside
A 2-year-old girl was still inside the home, strapped into a car seat. Officers described the toddler as “barely conscious and nonresponsive” and immediately carried her outside.
They then went back in to find the mother, 25-year-old Kallien Mia Heathman, lying unconscious on the floor near a couch. When officers tried to move her, she regained consciousness but became uncooperative. They had to drag her out of the home.
Investigators determined the smoke came from a pizza that had burned inside a microwave.
The Numbers Were Alarming
Empty liquor bottles and alcoholic beverage containers were found throughout the home.
Heathman’s blood-alcohol concentration tested at 0.379 — nearly five times Arizona’s legal limit for driving. Investigators concluded she was far too intoxicated to safely care for her children.
A 7-year-old sibling was also in the home and was not physically injured. That child contacted their father, who called 911 after learning what was happening. The father later arrived and took custody of the older child.
Heathman was charged with one count of child abuse and is currently being held in the Maricopa County Jail on a $10,000 cash-only bond.
Neither the toddler’s condition nor the mother’s has been publicly updated.
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