ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – A Brevard County mother is accused of leaving her 2-year-old son locked inside of his bedroom as she went out and partied over the weekend.
Police say it all started early Sunday morning when Alexis Sutherland, 23, was pulled over for suspicion of driving under the influence in Melbourne after cutting off a marked patrol vehicle on U.S. 1 and going the wrong way on Eau Gallie Boulevard.
The officer stated in his report that the single mother smelled of alcohol and admitted to have been drinking. But then, as she was being arrested for DUI, police say she remembered her 2-year-old son was home alone.
"At that point she called her mother, panicking, and said, 'My baby's locked in her bedroom,'" said Lt. Bob Weigel with Rockledge police.
Weigel says officers responded to Sutherland's home on Skully Drive in Rockledge, some 23 miles from where she was arrested, and found the 2-year-old locked in his room.
"The baby was unable to get out due to the fact that the lock was on the living room side leading into the bedroom," said Weigel. "There's no way if there was any kind of emergency that the child could've saved himself."
It's unclear how long the 2-year-old was in his bedroom, unsupervised, without food or water, but Lt. Weigel says he was unharmed.
"She's a single mom, raising on a child on her own, however, she's 23 years old, she's an adult, you have to have more responsibility," said Lt. Weigel. "You have a child you brought into this world and it's up to you to care for that child."
Police say the 2-year-old is currently in Department of Children and Families custody.
Sutherland remains at the Brevard County jail where she's being held on a $3,000 bond.