Police: Intoxicated Father Lost Child
A man who was helping police during the 25-hour search found the boy in a parking structure
Authorities said the boy's father was so intoxicated that he forgot him in a vehicle in a parking structure.
The search for a missing boy ended late Sunday when the child was found in a car seat in a Pasadena parking structure.
Authorities said the boy's father was so intoxicated that he didn't remember the boy was in the vehicle. The father was arrested.
Pasadena police chief Phillip Sanchez told reporters at a news conference that a man helping police in the search found the boy asleep at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. That was after a 25-hour search. Pasadena resident Rowdy Metzger, 39, joined the search after receiving a community alert from police.
"My wife said, 'Either you let it go or you do something about it,'" he said.
So Metzger went to the police command post and set out on a search. He said the doors to the vehicle were unlocked when he found the boy.
"He was actually ok, for the most part," Metzger said.
The boy was last seen leaving a wedding in the Lexus SUV with his father at the wheel. On Saturday night, the 23-year-old father was found walking alone. He said he was too drunk to remember that he had left the wedding with his child, police said.
The boy's mother reported the pair missing Sunday morning and set off the search. The mother, who also was at the wedding at the Masonic lodge, said she saw the two leave.
"It wasn't until the mother called...that it came to light that a child was missing," police Sgt. Ed Calatayud said.
The mother, whose name was not released, had been calling hospitals and police stations looking for her son, her wayward domestic partner and his car, police said.
Sanchez told the Associated Press that the boy appears to be fine, but paramedics are examining him.
The father remains jailed on suspicion of child endangerment.
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