TRUMANN, Ark. — Three Arkansas children are safe thanks to the swift thinking of the oldest one, who escaped their home and called for help.

Wednesday, their mother, 30-year-old Latisha Davis of Trumann, is facing endangerment charges for leaving them home alone.

Neighbors said the arrest has been a long time coming. One said she’d seen a baby crawl out of the house and make it almost to the road.

“I’ve come home from work at 6:30 in the morning and one is always standing out in the road with nothing but a diaper on,” Kimberly Gay said. “They screamed at those kids constantly, they never spoke. It was always screaming.”

According to a police report, a teenage girl escaped the home on Mildred Avenue and went up the street to the gas station to call police, after Davis left the night before and never returned home.

Police responded and met the young girl at the house, along with her one-year-old and three-year-old brother.

The report says the house was 90 degrees, and there was no food available to the children.

“Children that age require adults to be present,” said Cpl. David Davison with Trumann Police. “I mean, a 14-year-old shouldn’t be tasked with taking care of kids that age. There’s just a lot of things that only adults can do and have the mentality for. It’s just common sense, really.”

Davison said police responded to the call that day and immediately called DHS, who responded and tried to reach Davis.

“She kept hanging up on them,” Davison said. “They told her come home now or we’re taking your kids, and she just wasn’t listening. And they called her back again and she even acted like she spoke a different language.”

Davison says the children’s father ultimately was granted temporary custody of the kids. Davis was arrested when she finally returned home later that night.

“The only thing I could think was, she hasn’t called the police, asked where her kids were. She’s made no mention of her kids, she’s just hanging out at her house like nothing is wrong,” Davison said.

The report says the teenager indicated her mother has done this several times before and was relieved to finally have help.

We wanted to hear Davis’ side of the story, but she remains in the Poinsett County jail.