Parents Chastized As Infant Discovered Abandoned In Car

It happened downtown Tuesday afternoon at King and Charlotte Sts.

And by the time it was over, police had confronted a father, worried about an infant and left shaking their heads.

The case started when a parking enforcement officer put a ticket on a car parked in the busy downtown core. That’s when the cop spotted a 10-month-old baby girl asleep and alone in the child seat in the back of the vehicle – with her parents nowhere in sight.

He called for back-up and the hunt began for little Debbie’s mother and father.

They didn’t have to look far. The duo was inside a store doing some Christmas shopping.

“I waited for about ten minutes and then I called for our P.C. unit,” explains parking control officer Gavin de Silva.

That sparked a major confrontation half an hour later when the nonchalant dad finally returned.

“Where have you been?” the officer demanded.

“Where have I been?” the father responded rhetorically.

“Where have you been?” the cop asks again.

“Around the corner,” comes the answer.

“Have you left this vehicle unattended for the last half-hour that we know of?” the grilling goes on.

“No. I keep coming back,” the non-plussed dad contends with no apparent concern. “Half hour, yes, 30 minutes.”

When tempers calmed down, the surprised father received a ticket for his trouble but still didn’t get  it. He finally wound up asking what all the fuss was about.

David Shcyer was born in Toronto but lives in Estonia. He claims everyone does it all the time back home.
 
“She’s sleeping very, very peacefully,” he observes.
 
Why not just bring the baby into the store?  

“She was sleeping and this is her afternoon nap,” he explains.

But if Shcyer wasn’t upset, the discovery there was a little one so young in the backseat left those around the scene incensed.
 
“It’s irresponsible,” condemns Grace Lau. “No one’s watching the child. It’s on a busy street. Regardless of the weather, I think someone should be watching the child. Baby’s not even a year old!”
 
It’s illegal to leave a child alone in a car and police drilled that lesson into Shcyer as they chastized him for his actions.

Cops are stunned at his attitude.

“You can’t legislate common sense,” shrugs Sgt. Don Hutchings. “You cannot abandon a child under the age of ten years. This child here is ten months old. A ten-month-old baby girl left alone in a vehicle on the streets of Toronto. Just unbelievable!”

The mother eventually showed up and both parents were taken to 52 Division where they were questioned by detectives and the Children’s Aid Society.

Cops didn’t lay charges in this case – the couple was released because they’re going back to Estonia in the next few days.

And it appears they’ll leave without having any idea of what they did wrong.