Spartanburg Parents Charged With Child Neglect

A couple is behind bars and their three children are in protective custody after investigators say they found very little food and no beds inside a Spartanburg home.

John and Amy Davis are charged with child neglect. Amy is also charged with child abuse. They were arrested early Sunday morning at their home on Shea-Marie Street.

According to an incident report from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, a neighbor called 911 after Amy Davis threatened the neighbor’s 8-year old daughter. The daughter is friend’s with the Davis’s 8-year old daughter. The neighbor told investigators her daughter witnessed Amy Davis choking her own daughter throwing her to the ground and slapping her 5-year old son many times. The report states that when the deputy went to talk to the Davis family, he was greeted by John Davis who was holding a beer in his hand and asking what was going on. When the deputy explained that he was there to check on the welfare of the children, John reportedly invited him in and apologized for his house being a mess.

The incident report says the deputy entered the house and found beer bottles and trash littering the floor in every room. The deputy says there was little food in the cabinets and the refrigerator held only a case of malt liqour. The report also states there were no beds in the home. The deputy says Amy Davis was in the bathroom “screaming and yelling” and was grossly intoxicated. John reportedly told deputies his wife is manic/bipolar.

Deputies say the children, ages 10, 8, and 5, told them their mother had been drinking and had physically assaulted all of them. Two of the older children said it happened a lot. The report states the children told the deputy that they were told by their parents not to tell the guidance counselor at school what was happening because they would be taken away.

John and Amy Davis were arrested and are still in jail on $5,000 bond. The children were placed in emergency protective custody by Department of Social Services.

Click on the video tab to see Chris Cato’s story on the arrests and video of the inside of the Davis’s house.