Wlaf1450LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – A welfare check by a La Follette Police Officer landed a man in jail and prompted the Department of Children Services (DCS) to tend to his young son and daughter.
It was just before 4:30 pm on Friday, May 27, when LPD Officer Cheyenne White conducted a welfare check on a man in a pick-up truck parked behind Lindsay’s Carpet & Paint Center. White allegedly found Stephen Lawson slumped over in the driver’s seat, the truck in park with the engine running and two young children in the passenger seat. Both the five-year-old boy and girl were not buckled with no car seats in the gray 2002 Toyota Tundra, according to the report from the LPD.
White reached into the truck, turned off the engine and attempted to wake Lawson. It took White nudging and rubbing Lawson’s chest along with the boy and girl shaking his arms to bring him around. Based on the report, the children told the officer they’d been trying to wake their father for a while, and that they were hungry and had not recently eaten. They went on to tell police they’d been in the parking lot for hours, because Lawson was sleeping and did not want to wake up.
Officer Anthony Mahar arrived and asked Lawson to step out of the truck. Lawson was frisked by Mahar with the officer finding a white pill in Lawson’s pant pocket. He told police it was Xanax.
Lawson agreed to a field sobriety test, and he performed poorly on it, according to the officer’s narrative.
The 39-year- old Lawson of 302 South 7th Street in La Follette was arrested on multiple charges including DUI and child abuse, neglect or endangerment. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 06/06/2022-6AM)