Barbara Patterson and her husband, Marion Patterson, often travel on S.C. 90.
But Sunday night was like no other trip for the Conway couple as they found a 3-year-old boy running down the road in his pajama top and a diaper.
Their discovery led to another one: The boy and his 4-month-old brother had been left home alone by their mother, Kathleen Agnes Salling, who was out at a bar drinking, according to an arrest warrant.
SALLING,?KATHLEEN?AGNES - UNLAWFUL NEGLECT OF CHILD OR HELPLESS PERSON BY LEGAL CUSTODIAN- $25,000.00
It was 11:20 p.m. Sunday when the Pattersons saw the boy, who had on no pants or shoes, about 2 1/2 to 3 feet in the right lane, causing Marion Patterson to swerve into the left lane to avoid hitting the child, said Barbara Patterson. The couple were on their way home from Calabash, N.C.
The boy was facing the couple's car, looking for his mom to come back, Barbara Patterson said.
Salling, 26, of Little River, initially told police she went out for 30 minutes to help a friend and then later said she was actually out at a bar having a couple of drinks, according to an Horry County police report.
Salling - who allegedly had been gone for at least two hours - has been charged with unlawful neglect of a child or helpless person by legal custodian. She remained at J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Monday under a $25,000 cash or surety, according to jail officials.
After Salling left the house, her 3-year-old son apparently got up, opened the door, and ran down the street looking for her, Barbara Patterson said.
When she and her husband saw the boy, Barbara Patterson said she jumped out of the car and ran back to get the boy, who was screaming, "Mommy, I want my mommy!"
Barbara Patterson had to ask the boy to get in the car with her and her husband. She recently had a pacemaker implanted and couldn't pick him up.
"I turned the heater on full blast," said Patterson, who said the boy didn't want her jacket around him. "I'm a mother and a grandmother. This was like a bad nightmare. I was thinking if the boy stepped out in the road, we would have hit him. It shocked us so bad, we didn't know what was happening."
The Pattersons called 911 and police met them on S.C. 90.
The boy was scared to talk to the officer, Patterson said, so she tried to ask the boy about where he lived.
"He knew he lived across from a swimming pool," Barbara Patterson said.
The officers let the boy stay in the car with the Pattersons as they drove around looking for the child's parents.
"He didn't recognize anything," Barbara Patterson said.
Officers finally came to a subdivision across S.C. 90 where they spotted a front door open at 349 Carriage Lake Drive, according to the police report.
"The little boy said, 'He going in my house, he going in my house,'" Barbara Patterson said. She said the boy also recognized where he goes swimming.
The officers found photos of the child on the wall inside the house, and a 4-month-old boy sleeping in his crib, the report stated.
Officers also found numerous phone numbers and began calling them to try to find the children's parents.
Officers made contact with the children's grandparents; they were out of town. They gave police Salling's number.
When officers called, Salling told them she was on her way. When she arrived, police asked her if she knew why they were there and she replied, "Yes, because I left my children home alone," the report stated. It was 1:45 a.m. when Salling returned home. Police received the call about the child found at 11:30 p.m., the report stated.
Officers contacted the Department of Social Services, who came and took the children into custody.
"It's an ordeal you never want to experience," Barbara Patterson said.
