Man Charged with Child Abuse

According to our friends at NewsChannel9, East Ridge police arrested a man they say was passed out inside his car with three children still inside.

Eredin Lopez-Rodriguez, 34, of 3416 Bennett Rd., was arrested Saturday when police found him at the 4200 block on Bennett Road. Police said he was passed out inside his car when they arrived at the scene.

According to Chief J.R. Reed, the car was not running when police arrived. Police said that if the car had been running when they arrived, Lopez-Rodriguez would have been charged with DUI as well.

Lopez-Rodriguez is charged with three counts of child abuse and neglect and one count of public intoxication.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.

About Dick Cook

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