California Dad Arrested for Abandoning Baby in Parking Lot
An 18-year-old father of a two-week-old baby was recently sent behind bars after abandoning his son in a Northern California parking lot.
Security footage shows Daniel Mitchell driving toward an empty parking lot of a barbershop at Sunset Shopping Center in Suisun City. The time stamp indicates that the teenage father stepped out of the vehicle he was driving before 3:15 p.m. on Monday and later on left a kid's car seat that held his two-week-old boy.
Wendell Cooper, owner of the aforementioned barbershop, and his employees found the 16-day-old baby. They called authorities shortly after the discovery.
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"We brought it inside and we waited 10 minutes because we thought they would come back that they forgot the baby and then we went next door and watched the video and seen the guy pull up and set him on the ground," Cooper said.
While police officers were working hard to identify the father, coincidentally, authorities arrested him when he got involved in a car crash near Fairfield, and he attempted to flee the scene. He was later taken to North Bay Medical Center for treatment of the injuries he acquired from the accident. Suisun City Police then interviewed the 18-year-old about the baby.
The mother of the child has issued a statement to the authorities. She is currently not being considered a suspect.
According to the Suisun City Police Department, the infant has a medical condition. Although it is critical, the baby is currently in a stable condition. He was transported to North Bay Medical Center for observation.
Mitchell is under arrest for "probably cause for child endangerment, child abandonment, committing a felony while on bail, and misdemeanor possession of suspected cocaine," the cops said in a statement.
He was previously arrested on June 27 and is facing multiple felony charges, one of which is "possession of a firearm."
More updates on the case should roll out soon.
