The father of a 4 year old boy has been arrested and will be charged with child endangerment likely to cause substantial harm, after leaving his son alone in the car while he was inside the casino gambling.
Along with the child endangerment charges, the 44 year old man from
Brooklyn Park will also be charged with lying in his statements to the police.
A regular at the casino was on his was to his car when he spotted the 4 year old walking around in the cold, and immediately brought him to the casino security at 12:15 AM. The temperature was seven degrees bellow zero and with the wind chill it felt more like 22 bellow. According to police the child was suffering from mild hypothermia, but they said that if he had been out there for another 5 minutes he would probably be dead.
According to the security tapes from the parking lot the boy was aloe in the car for more then an hour before he got out and was discovered.
The boy was treated at a Shakopee hospital before being handed over to the local Child protection services, who will try to locate the boys mother.
The father admitted to leaving the boy in the car so he could go to the casino ad play some Blackjack. His bail was set at $8,000, which he said he could not pay.
