Police: Couple too drunk to care for children

MONROE, N.C. — A Monroe couple was charged with child abuse after police said they were too drunk to care for their own children.
 
Police arrested Antonio Alsobrooks and his girlfriend Gabriel Ivey early Monday morning after they said Ivey's father called 911 concerned for her welfare.
 
Ivey's father told dispatchers his daughter called him to say someone was threatening her life.
 
"You're saying that she called you up and said I'm sorry for everything that has happened, somebody has got a gun to me?" the dispatcher asked him.
 
Ivey's father replied, "That's what she told me. I don't know if she is drunk or what," according to the 911 recording.
 
Police said when they arrived to check on Ivey, they found the couple severely intoxicated.
 
"They were barely coherent. The woman was semi-conscious for lack of other words and in no state to care for themselves," said city spokesman Pete Hovanec.
 
Officers said Alsobrooks became extremely belligerent and was shouting obscenities at officers when police discovered the couple's 3- and 4-year-old children inside the home without proper supervision.
 
"You have to be a responsible party, you have to be there to make decisions in case of an emergency," Hovanec said.
 
Neighbors told Channel 9 they were shocked by news of the arrests, calling the couple good parents.
 
"When I see the kids, they look like they're having a good time, enjoying themselves. I mean, that's just the way this neighborhood is," said Jimmy Smith.
 
Alsobrooks and Ivey remain in the Union County jail on charges of misdemeanor child abuse.

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