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Baby sitter suspected of taking drunken nap

Photo

David Rasch

ELKHORN — A Lake Geneva man accused of falling asleep drunk while baby-sitting a 3-year-old boy injured when he jumped from a second-floor window remained in the Walworth County Jail on Wednesday on a probation hold.

David A. Rasch, 41, was charged in late July with one count of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm, a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to six years.

Rasch appeared in Walworth County Court on Wednesday, but his case was reset for a 1 p.m. hearing on Oct. 27.

County officials want to hear from the state Department of Corrections about its plans to hold Rasch on 2007 criminal cases involving drugs and drunken driving as a repeater.

According to the criminal complaint in the child neglect case:

On the evening of May 30, Elkhorn police went to the apartment to help a boy that witnesses said had fallen out of a second-floor window.

The boy was lying on his back and screaming that he was hurt.

Neighbors told police they tried to contact an adult at the boy's apartment but nobody answered the door.

An officer knocked on the door for nearly two minutes and then tried to open it, but the door would open only a few inches.

The boy told police he had wanted to go outside, but he couldn't use the apartment door because a chair was in the way.

The boy then decided to jump out of a window.

The officer saw another child in the apartment who ran to a back bedroom and got Rasch out of bed.

As the officer talked with Rasch, he smelled of alcohol. Rasch then admitted drinking and falling asleep.

A breath test by police confirmed Rasch had been drinking.

The boy was treated at a hospital for a concussion, scrapes and bruises.