CLEVELAND — A woman is facing charges after leaving her 7-month-old son alone in a Cleveland bar, according to the Cleveland Division of Police.
Officers with the Lakewood Police Department were called to a woman’s house after an incident that occurred at the Tick Tock Tavern on Clifton Boulevard on Thursday between 10 p.m. and 11.pm.
“She kept walking over to the bar, and leaving him in his car seat at the booth. Like, six or seven months old," said Michelle Reese, who was working at the time.
Reese told police she witnessed Ernestine Goggans, 33, attempting to find someone to watch her child, leaving the child alone in another room while he slept in a car seat.
“Like, a complete and total stranger she’s never met -- go home with her," she said.
According to a police report, another person looked for Goggans, but was unable to find her in the bar, so she took the child home with her and called the Lakewood Police Department since it was nearby.
Reese said the mother was not a regular, but she left her son alone at the tavern the night before as well. She told police that Goggans appeared to be “acting strangely” and that she was asking different customers at the bar to watch the child.
Goggans has been charged with misdemeanor endangering children and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 26.
The baby was taken to Metro Health Medical Center for an evaluation and handed over to Child and Family Services.
