RICHMOND, Ky. (WKYT)- Daycare workers at ABC Childcare along Keeneland Drive were upset when they called police Friday morning. They reported a man was passed out in a car with two small children still in the back seat.

"Children were safe; one was actually asleep when officers arrived. The other was awake," explained Sgt. Brian Lafferty of the richmond Police Department.

Police quickly pulled the 27-year-old father of two out of the car for a field sobriety test. Social services were called to look after the one and seven year old children. That's when officers say they figured out Steven Hembree was high on pills and found 17 oxycodone pills in his car.

Hembree was arrested but has since bonded out of jail. When we went to his Richmond home, our news crews found a woman who identified herself only as his mother.

When we asked her about the incident Friday morning, she said her son had simply fallen asleep.

"Just that he'd been up all night cause he came in from Ohio and uh, he fell asleep," the woman explained.

When we asked the woman about the pills, she said she didn't know if they belonged to her son. Now, police say they're glad the daycare employees were alert.

"I think they did a great job," Lafferty said.

Hembree's mother says her son's children are with their mother.
He was charged with wanton endangerment and drug charges.