By Jim Smith

Butler Eagle Staff Writer

A cat on the roof proved too much of a curiosity for a 2-year-old boy, who ended up climbing out the second-story window of his Butler home Tuesday afternoon, city police said.

It wasn’t the first time.

Just three weeks earlier, the same plucky kid crawled out an upstairs window onto the same porch roof.

In both cases, the tyke was not injured. And in both cases, his baby sitter landed in trouble with the law.

Police said in the most recent incident, the boy’s grandmother, 64-year-old Janice Davis, who lives there, was supposed to be watching him.

But just before 5:30 p.m., officers were called for “a small child hanging out a (second-floor) window,” police Detective Anthony Fatta said this morning.

When police got there, they spotted the boy in a potentially dangerous situation.

“The officers saw him leaning out of the window to pet a cat,” Fatta said.

The roof is about 20 feet above the sidewalk below.

Police looked through a sliding door in back of the home and saw Davis lying on a couch. An officer shined his flashlight at the woman, which got her attention.

Davis, who smelled of alcohol and appeared to be under the influence, according to the police report, acknowledged she was to be watching the child. She was alone with her grandson at the time.

Fatta said police contacted the Butler County Children and Youth Services agency and advised them of their findings.

Police eventually contacted the boys’ parents, and later drove them back to the house.

The officers informed Davis that she would be charged with child endangerment, a misdemeanor.

Police last month filed a similar charge against the boy’s uncle, Harrison W. Daniels, 26, of Butler, after he, too, fell asleep during baby-sitting duties.

In the earlier call, police about 1:10 p.m. Feb. 8 noticed the boy standing outside a bedroom window.

The officers went inside the unlocked house and up the stairs. They announced themselves but got no answer. They found the bedroom where the child was out the window.

In the room, according to court documents, they also found Daniels dozing on the bed. It took a while, but they eventually roused him.

One of the officers, meanwhile, got to the open window and pulled the boy inside.

Police noted that while they spoke to Daniels, they noticed a suspected marijuana pipe and grinder on the floor next to his bed.

He faces a preliminary hearing on charges of child endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia in the case.