A Port Barre woman was arrested after locking a toddler in a bedroom and leaving the home, claiming SWAT was looking for her, according to the Port Barre Police Department.
Dawn Bowers, 54, of Port Barre, is charged with child abandonment.
On Tuesday, Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux reported officers responded to a home at in the 300 block of Seneca Street, after 5 p.m. regarding a welfare concern about a 2-year-old child left home alone.
The child’s mother reported that she had left the toddler in the care of Bowers, who is her mother and the child's grandmother, and also lives at the home, while she ran errands.
He said a short time later, Bowers contacted the mother stating she was leaving the residence because, “SWAT was looking for her,” officials said. Bowers then allegedly locked the child inside a bedroom and left the property. He noted that just before officers arrived on the scene, a relative went to the home, climbed inside through a window, and found the crying child alone.
Port Barre Police, with the assistance of the St. Landry Sheriff’s Office, found and arrested Bowers the next morning at a residence on Harmon Lane near Opelousas.
Bowers was booked into the Port Barre jail then transported to the St. Landry Parish jail. Bond details were not released.