Dad slept as his 2 toddlers slipped through broken door and wandered along busy roadway: Police

Background: A section of KY 3439 South outside of Barbourville, Kentucky (Google Maps). Inset: Jeremiah Grubb (Knox County Sheriff's Office).

A southern Kentucky father is accused of falling asleep and allowing his young children to wander onto the side of a busy road.

Jeremiah Grubb, 23, has been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, the Knox County Sheriff's Office announced. He was booked in the Knox County Detention Center.

On Thursday at about 11:50 a.m. a deputy with the sheriff's office responded to the area of KY 3439 South in the area of Barbourville, Kentucky. The small city is located about 90 miles north of Knoxville, Tennessee.

He was called there because witnesses had reported finding two children — ages 2 and 3 — wandering on the side of the major road "without adult supervision." According to local Fox affiliate WDKY, the witnesses said that before they called 911, they were with the toddlers for roughly 15 minutes without any parents or guardians watching them.

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One of the children was reportedly partially naked and the other one needed to be changed. First responders cared for both kids when they arrived.

As deputies investigated, they learned that Grubb was the children's father, that he "was asleep," and that the children's mother was at work. Furthermore, the lock on the door of their home was apparently broken.

The area's Department of Child Services and emergency personnel went to the family's home. The children "were released to a family member" after being checked and cleared by medics, the sheriff's office said.

Grubb was arrested and arraigned in court on Monday. He is no longer listed as an inmate in the Knox County Detention Center.