Breaking up a fight between two women at a Laramie bar led police to discover that the 2-year-old child of one had been left home alone for hours — and reportedly not for the first time.
What started as a fairly standard call about a physical fight at the Ranger Bar at 452 N. Third St. in downtown Laramie last Wednesday ended with a combative 25-year-old allegedly assaulting one police officer and interfering with another, all after leaving her young child alone for hours in disturbing conditions, according to a court file made available Monday.
Kayla Marie Clark was involved in a physical fight with another woman at the bar when police arrived at about 10:15 p.m. according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Clark’s case.
Clark and the other woman were pulling each other’s hair and crashing around the karaoke area before ending up in an outside patio area, the affidavit says. Sometime during the scuffle, Clark reportedly bit the other woman on the top of her head.
After breaking up the fight and while initially interviewing the suspects, the other woman told police she knew Clark had allegedly left her toddler home alone — and regularly does so.
When questioned about her young child at home, Clark was evasive and tried to steer police to anywhere except the home where the 2-year-old was alone, the affidavit says.
The ‘Babysitter’
“During the interview with Clark, she repeatedly spoke about needing to call her ‘babysitter’ or her ‘husband’ about her 2-year-old,” says the affidavit, a representation that the child was being looked after.
But her story wasn’t consistent, and Clark “gave multiple versions of where (the child) was and who was watching (the baby), all of which were eventually determined not to be true,” the affidavit says. “Clark led officers to multiple inaccurate addresses intentionally, for the purposes of keeping law enforcement from locating (the child).”
When they called Clark’s husband at work, he provided a correct address, then told police the child was likely left alone.
He confirmed Clark had left the 2-year-old “unattended previously on numerous occasions” and gave police consent to enter the home to check on the toddler’s welfare.
In the meantime, Clark continued to be evasive, telling officers that the address provided by her husband was false, even though it wasn’t.
Those Conditions
When officers finally had the right address, they report the child was left in deplorable — and potentially dangerous — conditions, as outlined in the affidavit.
Upon entering the residence, officers were met with “an excessively loud nursery rhyme tune coming from a bedroom with the door closed within the apartment,” the affidavit says. “This tune was coming from a tablet hanging on the wall and the tune was on a loop.”
When entering the bedroom, the lights were off and officers immediately “felt an overwhelming heat escape from the bedroom, more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat and air had the odor of human feces.”
A space heater turned to “max” had been left in the room, which “was unequivocally a safety/fire hazard,” the document continues. “A digital thermometer later confirmed the noted high temperatures.”
They found the child inside the room “wearing a diaper with sweatpants over-top and a ‘nappy’ over the sweatpants as if to restrict the child from accessing or removing the diaper,” according to the affidavit. “The sweatpants were wet and soiled.”
As for feeding the child, officers found several sippy cups in the room, along with a small mattress on the floor covered with stuffed animals.
“All these facts indicated … that (the child) had been left alone for a lengthy period and that Clark had taken measures to leave (the child) unattended for such a period,” the affidavit says.
Outside in the apartment’s living room was found a tray “containing various suspected controlled substances and paraphernalia,” the affidavit adds.
Specifically, officers found marijuana dispensary containers with pot in them, grinders, glass pipes with drug residue, rolling papers, and other items.
“It appeared that with the presence of those items that drugs were being ingested in the household where (the child) resided, and due to their location were easily within reach,” the affidavit says.
About That Bar Fight
Not only was Clark allegedly uncooperative in giving information about her child, she also was physically combative with officers, including backhanding an officer at the jail during her intake.
When it became apparent officers weren’t going to let her leave the bar without finding out what happened, Clark yelled, “She put hands on me first!” the affidavit says.
She said she was sitting in the smoking room of the bar talking to someone when the other woman approached and accused Clark of attacking her son and his husband.
After Clark said the other woman “began to put hands on me,” Clark said that she “began biting (the other woman) out of ‘self-defense’ and bit the top of her head,” according to the affidavit.
There were no punches thrown, but both had grips on each other’s hair, and at one point Clark said she tried to knee the other woman in the face.
The fight ended when the other woman’s son broke it up, then officers arrived shortly thereafter, the affidavit says. That’s when the other woman tipped law enforcement off about the child at home alone.
While checking her for injuries, the affidavit says the other woman stated: “And she talking like she had a babysitter. She ain’t never got a babysitter for that kid. … Child Protective Services has been called.”
Clark has been charged with felony interference with a peace officer; and misdemeanor endangering children, battery possession of a controlled substance, and interference.
She had her initial appearance in court on Friday, and a preliminary hearing has been set for March 26.
She remains at the Albany County Detention Center on an $80,000 cash bond.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
