Police arrested a man after witnesses saw his 3-year-old son crawling with a child car seat still strapped to him in a Texas grocery store parking lot, an arrest affidavit said.
Troy Anthony Smith, 57, of Round Rock, was charged with abandoning or endangering a child, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in jail. He was also charged with possession of marijuana, which is a misdemeanor.
Police were notified at 12:18 p.m. Monday about a small child who had been left alone in a car and had fallen out of the Kia sport utility vehicle with the child seat still attached to him, the affidavit said. The incident happened in the parking lot at the H-E-B grocery store at 250 University Blvd. in Round Rock, the affidavit said.
One of the two witnesses was holding the boy when police arrived, according to the affidavit. Authorities said the witnesses heard a car alarm going off, and when they looked in the direction of the vehicle, they saw the boy outside the SUV crawling with a child seat strapped to him.
The witnesses were not able to unbuckle the boy from the car seat and called 911, the affidavit said. A man — later identified as Smith — walked up to the Kia SUV pushing a grocery cart and told police the child was his son, according to the affidavit.
Authorities said more than 10 minutes had passed between the time police received the call about the child and when Smith arrived at the vehicle.
Smith said he had made a mistake by leaving his son in the vehicle by himself, the affidavit said. He said before he went inside the grocery store the boy had been buckled in the SUV, the document said.
Smith’s car was parked 300 feet from University Boulevard, which is a connector road to Interstate 35. The affidavit also said it was 55 degrees when the boy was found, and there was slight rain with fog.
Police found marijuana inside Smith’s vehicle, the affidavit said.
Smith was released from the Williamson County Jail Tuesday after posting bail set at $10,000.
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