Police bodycam shows officers finding toddlers in ‘filthy’ conditions in car with passed-out adults

BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - Bodycam video from the Monroe Police Department now shows the moment officers found a man and woman allegedly passed out in their car with children in the back seat.

The officers claim in court documents they found Justin Simpson slumped over the steering wheel of the car on Todhunter Road and Stephanie Sandlin passed out in the passenger seat, with Sandlin having to be woken up.

Below is part of the audio from the bodycam video.

Officer 1: “He had a bag of dope on his lap.”

Officer 2: “Was it meth?”

Justin Simpson: “No, it was crack.”

Officer 1: “He tossed it in between the seats, so we’re going to have to do some digging to get it out.”

Sandlin’s “very small” children were allegedly in the back seat when officers found the vehicle on June 6. The twin 18-month-old boy and girl were “extremely hot” and “very sweaty, thirsty and filthy,” police say.

Officers said they could hear loud cries from the two twin 18-month-olds. Police also claim the children were found sitting in “old fast food scraps with diapers that had not been changed for a while.”

Beside Sandlin in the door pocket, police claim they found a crack pipe.

She had “extremely dilated pupils and was very lethargic,” police say, but Sandlin refused medical treatment.

After searching the backseat, police said they found methadone, which is a medication used to treat Opioid Use Disorder by producing similar effects as the drug and preventing withdrawal symptoms.

Sandlin: “Are you going to take me to jail?”

Officer: “It’s looking that way.”

Sandlin: “I don’t want to go to jail.”

One officer is seen in the video handing Sandlin a phone to call her father so he could pick up the kids.

Simpson faces a drug possession charge in addition to the child endangerment charge. New court records that were on June 8 show additional charges of disorderly conduct against him.

The court records also show Sandlin is facing charges of drug paraphernalia and disorderly misconduct.

Sandlin is looking at a $2,000 bond and Simpson is facing a $5,000 bond.

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