Two Bloomington residents were arrested Wednesday evening after officers found two children living in an unsafe environment in the residents’ home.\nSamantha Lindsay, 22, and Hubert Bray, 26, each face a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent.\nThe Bloomington Police Department investigated Lindsay, who is on probation, because officers suspected she was using drugs, said BPD Capt. Joe Qualters, reading from a police report. Lindsay’s probation officer, with the help of the BPD, did a sweep of her home and found two children.\nWhen officers arrived at her home on the 1600 block of North Willis Drive, they found Bray and two girls under two years of age in the residence. Officers noticed a gas leak in the kitchen, a large trash bag filled with copper wiring, trash debris, dirty diapers and an open outlet near a bathtub with water in it and sharp items on the floor, Qualters said.\nFurther inspection showed that the two children, Lindsay and Bray all had head lice. Both children were also found with cockroach bites and diaper rashes, Qualters said.\nChild Protective Services were called to the scene and ruled the residence unfit for children.\nBoth children were placed into foster care while Lindsay and Bray were taken into custody and transported to the Monroe County Jail.
BPD to crack down on traffic violations from Nov. 11 to 24
BPD will participate in a statewide Safe Family Travel traffic safety enforcement “blitz” right before the holiday season.\nThe campaign uses federal funding to put more officers on patrol to enforce Indiana’s impaired-driving and seat-belt laws, according to an Indiana Criminal Justice Institute press release. The blitz will begin Nov. 11 and end Nov. 24. The goal of the blitz is to ensure safety on Indiana highways during the heavy traffic of the holiday season, according to the press release.\n“Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times on Indiana highways, and we want to encourage all Hoosiers to make smart and safe decisions,” said BPD Sgt. Faron Lake in the press release. “If you buckle up and drive responsibly while traveling this holiday season, chances are, you’ll arrive alive.”\nIn 2006, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, 87 people died in Indiana because of alcohol-related crashes or in crashes where safety belts were not used, according to a press release from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. Of those killed in alcohol-related crashes, nearly 50 percent were unrestrained, according to the press release.\nMike Cunegin, the executive director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, said in the press release that many communities throughout Indiana are safer as a result of the enforcement blitz. \n“Drivers should buckle up, obey posted speed limits and drive sober to prevent unnecessary fatalities and injuries that may otherwise occur on Indiana’s roads and highways,” Cunegin said in the press release.
