Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
MANSFIELD, Ohio — A Mansfield man is facing unusual charges for pushing his children in a stroller while he was intoxicated.
24-year-old Steven Melendez says his sons,who are one and three years-old, mean the world to him. However, Melendez concedes he had been drinking when he put the boys in a stroller and went to pick up a money order near their home on Monday.
Melendez tells Fox 8 “stupidly after having a couple of drinks you know I shouldn’t be going out but I was trying to make sure I had the money and stuff and got it so I had everything that day. I went out and about and was headed there to get the money and the cops stopped me.”
After receiving a 911 call from a concerned resident, Mansfield Police arrested Melendez on charges of child endangering and public intoxication.
Police say he passed out when they took him to the Richland County Jail to be booked, and he had to be taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Melendez says “point blank I was wrong, I shouldn’t have went out and had anything to drink, I mean I wasn’t stumbling stupid drunk or nothing but you know it happened, it’s over. I’ve just got to go and do what I have to do to deal with it.”
Melendez says he is now taking steps to treat his drinking problem.
He says “I’m not a negligent father you know and I love my kids, I never put them in jeopardy and maybe that day I made a stupid decision but you know everybody makes a bad decision, I mean no one wants to hurt anybody, especially not their own kids.”
Melendez is now hoping to convince the judge hearing his case that he is a changed man and that he belongs in treatment as opposed to jail.