A grandmother was arrested Monday after police say she pushed her two grandchildren into the Oswego River, according to SILive.com‘s sister site, syracuse.com.
Syracuse.com reported that the woman allegedly told police she pushed her 3 and 5-year-old grandchildren into the frigid water so that they could go swimming, a sergeant said.
The water was reportedly approximately 38 degrees when she allegedly pushed the kids in, syracuse.com revealed.
“The children were fully submerged before their grandmother pulled them out,” The Fulton Police Department said in a statement, according to syracuse.com. “They were not in the water very long.”
The kids’ 46-year-old grandmother, Heather M. Smith, was charged with multiple counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child, according to a news release syracuse.com obtained from the Fulton police.
Syracuse.com reported that the mother called police the to report the incident after the children told her what happened. The pair were not injured.
When police located Smith, she told them that she did push the children into the water without the intent to harm them, police told the newspaper.
The grandmother was then arrested and released after arraignment proceedings. The children are currently in the care of their mother.
Child protective services have since launched an investigation into the incident.
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