A New Haven man was arrested on Friday evening after police received a 911 call reporting two young children hanging from a second-floor window and throwing things out of it.
Police responded to a Fair Haven residence at 6:45 p.m. after a neighbor knocked on the door of the residence and did not get a response, police said.
Responding officers found the children in the open and unscreened window, around 20 feet off the ground, throwing curtains, clothes and other objects from it and adult neighbors were trying to get them inside, police said.
A police officer pounded on the door until Ernest Boulanger, 43, eventually answered. When he opened the door, he had glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol, police said.
Inside the apartment, police found empty 24-ounce beer cans on the kitchen table and Boulanger told police he'd worked a long shift at work and drank the three cans of beer "to wind down," police said.
Police also said the apartment was in disarray, with cigarette ashes on the floor, a window fan with exposed blades, filthy bedding, trash on the floor and a sink filled with dirty dishes.
A 7-month old girl wearing a soiled diaper was crying in a dirty crib in a back bedroom, police said.
A 1-year-old boy wearing a soiled diaper and a 3-year old boy were also inside, police said.
Boulanger told police that the children's mother had left the children with him when he got home and fell asleep, police said.
Police contacted the state Department of Children & Families and the Yale Child Study Center.
DCF removed the children and will investigate.
Boulanger was arrested and charged with three counts of risking injury to children.
Court records show that Boulanger was charged with second-degree breach of peace in New Haven on Jan. 13.