Police: Unwanted Baby Taken From Intoxicated Mom

A baby was taken from a woman who appeared to have been drinking, threatening several people, and told police she couldn’t care for the child anymore.

Antonia Jenkins, 28, of Racine, was charged by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office with two counts of second degree recklessly endangering safety and two counts of disorderly conduct. If convicted of all charges, Jenkins faces up to 20 years six months in prison and/or fined up to $52,000.

According to the criminal complaint, officers with the Racine Police Department were called on Monday to a home in the 1600 block of Deane Blvd. for a report of a woman threatening several people and being too drunk to care for her baby.

Jenkins, who appeared to have been drinking, stumbled and swayed when she walked. Approaching the home, Jenkins banged on the door and demanded that the owner of the home let her into a tenant’s apartment. The owner refused because the tenant was in jail. The woman walked across the street to a red car where she and a man argued.

Witnesses told police that the man kicked her and the baby out of a car. When she got out of the car, a bottle of liquor fell out. Angry, Jenkins walked back to the home and started banging on the door. When she didn’t get an answer, she put the baby on top of a wire doge cage that was about two feet from the door on the porch. She then tried to force open the door and threatened to assault the woman.

Jenkins then put the baby on top of a porch column, let go of her and turned her back on the girl. The witness told police that if the baby would have lost her balance Jenkins wouldn’t have been able to have caught her, would have fallen about seven feet, and she would have been severely injured. The witness told Jenkins to pick up the baby so she wouldn’t fall. While threatening the woman’s family, the baby tried to get her mother’s attention by pulling at her leg pants and Jenkins swatted the baby off of her “knocking her down hard on the porch,” the complaint reads.

The baby started to cry and Jenkins picked her up, walked to the middle of the road and continued screaming threats at the family. They told Jenkins to get out of the road so that she wouldn’t get hit by a car, and she walked back to the home to continue the argument.

When the police arrived, Jenkins told them she didn’t have any family or friends in town who could pick her and the baby up. She put the baby on the second from the top step, turned her back and the baby fell down the steps. A Sergeant caught the baby before she hit her head. Separating the baby from Jenkins, she told the police: “Just keep her and let me go!”

Officers believed the baby was not being cared for properly. She appeared dirty and “very hungry.” The baby was taken to the hospital and human services was called to take custody of the baby. Jenkins was also taken into custody to be medically cleared due to her intoxication. Staff took a blood sample from Jenkins as she kicked tables and a wall of the room. She was then taken into custody at the Racine County Jail.

A cash bond was set for $2,500. Jenkins is set to have a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. June 23.