Intoxicated Mom of Choking Baby Told Restaurant Employee To "Deal With It"

A 27-year-old woman was arrested at a Florida restaurant after she reportedly passed out with a 1-year-old child in her care, who appeared to be choking.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s office charged Ariel Yvonne Hope of Miramar with child neglect after deputies found her passed out at a restaurant.

Police were called to a restaurant at 10 Harbor Blvd. about 3:28 p.m. Monday on reports of a heavily intoxicated person, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Deputies at the scene tried to wake up Hope several times and ask questions. When she finally gained some consciousness, she told the officers that she and her baby were from "Miramar," a city located hundreds of miles southeast of Destin, near Miami.

"The Defendant appeared to be heavily intoxicated to the point she was unable to take [care] of herself, let alone a one-year-old infant," stated the arrest report obtained by WGNO.

At the restaurant, Hope was allegedly unable to stand without the help of the deputies. In her state, she was unable to "rationally answer questions" asked by the officers.

An employee at the restaurant who witnessed the whole scene said she served Hope four vodka shots. She also gave a cherry to Hope for her infant.

Hope fed that cherry to the child. When the baby began choking, the suspect turned to the employee and told her to "F****** deal with it," the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook.

The witness told the cops that Hope then fell to the deck while holding the child in her hands. According to the police, the witness took the baby from Hope’s arms and cared for him until deputies arrived at the restaurant.

Despite the temperature being roughly 60 degrees and "cold wind" blowing, the child was dressed only "in a thin single layer of clothing," according to deputies.

Hope faces a felony charge of neglect of a child without great bodily harm. She is being held at Okaloosa County Jail on a $2,000 bond, according to court records.

Earlier this year, a Florida couple was charged with child neglect after their toddler overdosed on cocaine. The child had found a spoon with cocaine residue and put it in his mouth. The emergency crew saved the child by giving him three doses of naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.