Car seat, with baby still in it, found in road

July 27, 2010

A tired, stressed out Wauwatosa dad allegedly left his baby in the road, then got upset when a motorist called police.

According to the Wauwatosa police report:

A driver saw a car seat in the eastbound lane of 89th Street at Meinecke Avenue, about four feet from the curb. He figured it was empty and had been lost or abandoned. Then he saw the baby sitting inside.

The motorist quickly pulled over, got the baby out of the street and called 911. As he waited for an officer, a 40-year-old Wauwatosa man claiming to be the child's father arrived.

He said he had worked all night and couldn't sleep because he had to watch his two boys, ages 5 months and 20 months. They had the flu, so he brought them to the Madison Park playground for some fresh air.

He loaded the older child into the car, but must have forgotten the baby. As he drove home, he looked in the rearview mirror and didn't see his youngest. He quickly returned to his parking spot.

Officers questioned the father's judgment: driving on so little sleep, taking sick kids to a park where they could infect other children and getting angry at a man who helped his child.

The father was allowed to leave with his sons, but the Bureau of Child Welfare has been contacted.

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