Two Phila. Mothers Charged After Babies Are Rescued From Rooftop Peril
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police say charges have been filed against the mother of a toddler who was rescued from the rooftop of a home in the Frankford section of the city and a teenage girl whose baby was trying to crawl out of an apartment window onto the same roof.
Police say 22-year-old Cleaira Bell, of the 4700 block of Leiper Street, the mother of a two-year-old boy, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person. She was to be arraigned and her status was not immediately known.
Investigators say police were called to the neighborhood yesterday afternoon by witnesses who reported a child on the roof of a three-story home.
Police broke down the door to an apartment and, with the aid of firefighters, rescued the toddler from the roof and also stopped a one-year-old baby who was trying to climb out of a window onto the roof.
Police say the mother of the one-year-old -- a 17-year-old girl who was not identified -- also lives at the same address. She, too, was charged. Bail for Bell was set at $50,000.
Police say the toddler and the baby were placed in the custody of the city's Department of Human Services.