A 2-year-old Newington boy running in the middle of Highway 17 Sunday afternoon was corralled safely by passers-by. Authorities said the boy’s father was asleep in a nearby house when the child wandered off.
No charges had been filed against the father -- 23-year-old Anthony Taylor of Atlanta -- but the Department of Family and Children Services and the Screven County Sheriff’s Department were investigating and charges were possible, said Sgt. Brett Dickerson of the sheriff’s department.
Three people in two separate vehicles saw the baby in the road, near Cooperville, at about 5:10 p.m. on Aug. 22. They stopped traffic and got the boy out of the road. They found the father nearby and an early investigation determined that he was asleep when the baby walked out of the house, the report by Sgt. Marty Martinez of the sheriff’s department said.
By the time a deputy arrived, the boy and his father had already left the house. The baby was reunited with his mother, who is from Newington, later that evening, the report said.
“The people who stopped did an excellent job,” saving the child and finding his parent, Dickerson said. “All too often, you hear of people being callous and uncaring. … The family was lucky that compassionate people stopped.”
The sheriff’s department still wants to interview the father, Dickerson said.