Family: Woman drinking while watching toddlers

A woman charged with felony child neglect with substantial bodily harm after two toddlers fell from a third-floor apartment balcony Wednesday is a functional alcoholic, according to family members' statements in a Las Vegas arrest report.

Nicole Taylor, 36, told police she drank four 24-ounce cans of beer from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday as she watched her 3-year-old daughter, Torrie Richardson, and 1-year-old granddaughter, Zyla Sykes, in an apartment at 8855 Arby Ave., near Durango Drive and the Las Vegas Beltway.

Taylor told detectives she put the children in the bedroom for a nap about 1 p.m. and went into the living room to relax on the couch, where she "must have fallen asleep," the arrest report says.

Upon returning from school about 3:30 p.m., Taylor's 14-year-old daughter said her mother "appeared to be drunk" because her eyes were narrowed and she was leaning on her side, .

Taylor told her daughter to "be quiet" because the children were sleeping in the bedroom, the report says. Taylor's daughter then went to the balcony and saw her sister and niece on the ground below.

The teen told police she ran downstairs and took her half-conscious niece, Zyla, back to the apartment and laid her on the couch. Zyla had dried blood on her arm and was bleeding from her mouth and face, the report says.

She then retrieved her sister, Torrie, who was crying and had attempted to follow her up the first flight of stairs, and dialed 911 from a telephone in the complex's office, the report says.

Emergency personnel responded and the children were airlifted to University Medical Center, where both were in good condition Friday.

Zyla broke her arm, lacerated her spleen and suffered an adrenal hemorrhage in the fall, the report says. Torrie broke her pelvis.

Taylor's blood alcohol level registered 0.165 when it was taken at her apartment about 4:45 p.m. Before an interview with police later , her blood alcohol level tested at 0.129, the report says. The legal limit in drunken driving cases is .08 percent.

The 14-year-old daughter told police that Taylor drinks 24 hours a day, every day. She told police that Taylor is often drunk and asleep in the afternoon while the children are awake, and that her mother was aware the children could open the sliding door to the balcony.

The daughter told police she came home two weeks ago to find Torrie sitting on the balcony's ledge. The sliding door is always open because of an extension cord leading to a fish tank, she said.

Crystal Taylor, Zyla's 22-year-old mother and Nicole Taylor's daughter, told police she knew of her mother's alcoholism but wasn't concerned because she "would only witness Nicole consuming two cans," the report says.

Terry Richardson, Nicole Taylor's husband, told police his wife is an alcoholic with a history of abuse and was drinking during Torrie's pregnancy. Torrie was born with alcohol in her system, Richardson told police in the report.

Taylor told police she asked her daughter to "stay and check for injuries" rather than immediately call 911 after discovering the toddlers. She also told police she changed both girls' diapers before emergency personnel arrived.

The report says Taylor began to vomit after she was arrested. After she was cleared medically, she was booked at Clark County Detention Center.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.