Police say no charges will be filed against the parents who were reunited with their 4-year old child after she was found alone at a Clarksville intersection Monday morning.
Clarksville Police spokesman Jim Knoll released the backstory Monday night behind the child, Alana, who was found alone at the intersection of Evans Road and Purple Heart Parkway around 9:00 that morning. He says there was a movie night at Alana’s grandmother’s house Sunday night with several family members including Alana, her brother, and mother. Normally, Alana would not stay overnight at the grandmother’s house but the mother had an appointment Monday morning and a teenage family member, who is considered responsible, was going to be watching Alana. He says Alana’s brother stayed at another family member’s home and the other adults either had to work or had appointments.
According to Knoll, the teenager had napped during the movie night activities, woke up, and was unable to sleep and stayed up until the early hours of the morning. When she went to bed, Alana was asleep in the bed with her. The teenager is reportedly a heavy sleeper and police say she either forgot or it was not communicated to her that she was babysitting Alana. When the teen awoke before 3:00 Monday afternoon, police say she was unaware Alana had gotten out or even the fact she was supposed to have Alana since the communication between Alana’s mother and the teenager had not been confirmed.
At some point, police indicate Alana may have heard her mother leaving for her 9:00 appointment and ventured out to try and follow and opened the locked door. It was a very short time after that the good samaritan woman found the child in the roadway and called the police.
Knoll says Alana was quickly identified and united with her parents after her photo was circulated on social media and to media outlets.
After considering the totality of events, no history or child-related reports, the healthy condition of the child, and the lack of intentional neglect, police say no charges will be filed at this time.
