Tot in Car, Stepdad in Bar
Wednesday, Apr 8, 2009 | Updated 10:27 PM CST
Dallas County Jail
Bryant Rivera is spending time behind bars after he left a 3-year-old boy alone in a car while he spent time in a bar, police said.
A 22-year-old Dallas man is in jail Wednesday after he allegedly left his 3-year-old stepson alone for more than five hours outside a bar while he drank.
Police say Bryant Rivera's charged with abandoning and endangering a child. That's after a passerby called police about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday to report a child inside a car parked near a bar near Fair Park.
Rescue workers arrived to find the boy alone, strapped in a child seat in the back seat with a bottle of Dr Pepper. A video was playing in the headrest in front of him.
Robert Simmons, of Dallas Fire-Rescue, said rescue workers at first thought it was a prank call.
"I walked up and says, 'What do you got, Lieutenant?'" he said. "He says, 'We've got a child in here,' and we were like, 'Whoa.'"
A nearby police officer then located Rivera. Simmons said Rivera appeared to be "really confused."
A police report reviewed by The Dallas Morning News said Rivera had been in the bar since 9 p.m. Tuesday.
The child was not hurt, but Simmons said the situation could have turned out differently.
"Being a father myself, I could hardly put him down, a crying child in your arms," he said.
Police returned the child to his mother.
Copyright Associated Press
Posted Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 11:44 PM CST
