Drunken dad didn’t know baby fell from stroller

A woman heard the child crying in the field near her house.

CLEVELAND (AP) — City prosecutors will decide whether a man who didn’t notice that his infant son had fallen out of a stroller will be charged with wanton endangerment.

The man, whose name was not released, told police he was intoxicated when he was pushing his son in a stroller across a field and didn’t notice that the baby was missing until he got home.

Geraldine Johnson, 37, of Cleveland, said she woke up to hear a baby crying about 3 a.m. Tuesday and ran to the field near her house, where she found the child lying in the dirt. She called police and an ambulance, police Lt. Thomas Stacho said Wednesday.

The baby was taken to Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and then to Children Services after he was found to be uninjured, Stacho said.

Police talked to the father, who had come back to the field looking for the boy.

“He was intoxicated and told officers he had been drinking since about 3 p.m. Monday,” Stacho said.

The man told officers that he had been pushing his son in a stroller across the field in the dark, hit a bump and the baby must have bounced out, Stacho said.

The baby’s mother agreed to place the baby with her mother while she complies with Children Services’ corrective measures, agency director Jim McCafferty said.

Stacho said the case will be presented to city prosecutors after police complete their investigation.

Johnson said she saw the father searching for his son after she called police.

“He walked up to me and said, ‘Have you seen a baby?’ I wanted to punch him in the mouth,” Johnson said.