By Jeremy Pittari, Item Staff Writer
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE —
A three-year-old child was found wandering a city street with little more than a diaper and a shirt during the rain on Sunday.
At about 7:41 a.m., Picayune Police officers were sent to the area of Bales Avenue and Lawrence Street in response to a 3-year-old child found walking in the road wearing only a soiled diaper and a shirt, said Assistant to the Chief of Police Jeremy Magri.
The complainant who found the child told officers that he found the child had cold feet because it was not wearing any shoes. Magri said the officer noticed the child had dried blood on the hands and face and it appeared the child’s nails had not been trimmed in some time.
The child was recognized by the officer as belonging to 33-year-old Roslyn Lawson of 801 Mitchell St., so another officer was sent to speak with her while an ambulance responded to check on the child, Magri said.
Officers spoke with Lawson and asked if she knew where her child was. Magri said she told officers that her child was sleeping in the crib, but when she checked the crib was empty.
“I guess I don’t know where he is then,” Lawson told the officer according to the report.
In the report it was noted that the crib was in a state of disrepair, held together at the corners with duct tape and appeared to be a danger to the child, Magri said. Lawson told the officer that the last time she saw her child that day was before she took a shower.
A 6-year-old child was at the home and officers noticed it appeared to be malnourished, prompting them to call the Department of Human Services, Magri said. When DHS officials arrived, they took custody of the 6-year-old child and then went to Highland Community Hospital to check on the 3-year-old. Once the child was seen by medical personnel and released, DHS took custody of that child as well, Magri said.
Lawson was charged with felony child neglect and booked into the municipal jail.
Lawson and her husband, Troy, were facing numerous DUI charges in 2011. Troy Lawson, then 35, was facing 7 such charges, while Roslyn faced three DUI charges. During a municipal court proceeding that year, Troy Lawson pleaded guilty to two of the DUI charges, with three dropped because the arresting officers did not work with the department at the time of the hearing. His remaining two DUI charges were sent to Circuit Court for felony prosecution. Roslyn Lawson’s DUI charges were dropped due to the circumstances of her charges. Those circumstances involved her being behind the wheel, but in a parking lot with the vehicle parked.
On Aug. 27, 2012, Troy Lawson pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to the two felony DUI charges and was sentenced to five years of probation and placed into District’s Drug Court where he will be monitored daily, said Pearl River County Circuit Court Clerk Vickie Harriel.
