A teenage father was filmed on surveillance cameras abandoning his two-week-old son in a mall parking lot on Monday.
Daniel Mitchell, 18, was seen pulling in to a parking space at Sunset Shopping Center in Siusun City, California in his grey Toyota shortly after 3pm.
He was filmed coming to a stop then getting out of the driver’s seat to retrieve his son, who was sitting in his car seat, from the back.
Mitchell calmly placed the seat next to the car then drove away.
A barber who was working nearby spotted the car seat afterwards and rescued the baby just two minutes later.
He called police and the infant was taken to hospital where he remained in a critical condition on Monday night.
Authorities have not yet revealed what kind of injuries he suffered.
Erick Keeton, the barber who rescued him, said the boy appeared to be in a good condition when he found him.
‘I noticed he had his binky, he was wrapped up in a blanket,” Keeton said. “He had a diaper on and he appeared to be fine.
‘His tongue was a little white, maybe like he just had a bottle recently,’ he told KCRA.
Mitchell was arrested moments later after crashing his car nearby. He tried to flee from the scene but was caught and was taken in to custody where police identified him as the baby’s father.
The baby is in a critical condition in hospital. He is pictured with his father on the day he was born (left). Mitchell faces five charges. They are felony hit-and-run (for the car crash after left the baby at the mall), child endangerment, child abandonment, committing a felony while on bail and possession of suspected cocaine
The teenager was on bail for burglary at the time of the incident.
The boy’s mother, Mitchell’s wife, was unaware of his plans and is not facing any charges.
On Tuesday, she asked friends to ‘pray for my son’ as he recovered in hospital.
The infant was born on July 10. His father lists his profession as a cashier at the clothing store Hollister on social media.
He is charged with felony hit-and-run, child endangerment, child abandonment, committing a felony while on bail and possession of suspected cocaine.
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