A passerby stopped and called police when she noticed a small child standing in the road with no one else in sight. The caller said the child had tried to walk toward her moving car while she was driving along the roadway.
When Eatonton Police Department Officer Kevin Malloy arrived on scene at Parkway Drive, he found the caller waiting there with the child. The child was reportedly wearing nothing but a t-shirt that was soiled with feces. Malloy was familiar with the 4-year-old from prior incidents, according to his report. Malloy said he knew from those incidents that the child had nonverbal autism.
Malloy asked the caller to stay with the child while he went around the corner to the child’s residence on Matthews Lane to find the young boy’s mother. There he found the mother, Amy Galetka, slumped over in a lawn chair under the carport of the house.
“She would not respond to both me and Officer (Jeremy) McClure calling out her name,” Malloy said in his report. “I called Putnam County EMS to come check her out. While attempting to wake her up, I did smell the odor of alcoholic beverage emitting from her person. … and a large plastic cup near her feet with what appeared to be wine residue in it.” The officers also noticed the exterior door of the house was left open and they could see the refrigerator inside; its door also was open and food items were sitting on the floor. After conducting a safety sweep of the rest of the house to ensure no one else was there, the officers again attempted to wake up Galetka.
“She was speaking in a belligerent manner,” Malloy said. “And I observed that her eyes were red, bloodshot and glossy. (Her) speech was slurred as well.”
A neighbor arrived who not only knew the Galetkas, but also was known by the officers as a school teacher. The neighbor agreed to take care of the young boy temporarily while the officers contacted the Division of Family and Children Services.
Amy Jean Galetka, 42, of Eatonton, was arrested around 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17 and charged with felony cruelty to children in the second degree. She is being held without bond in Putnam County Jail.