A 33-year-old father from Drayton Valley, Alta. is facing multiple charges after police allege he left his young child in a parked car, “not dressed for the weather” while he went to drink in a bar on Friday.
On Monday, the RCMP said officers were called to a complaint of a possibly impaired driver in the town of Calmar at about 10:30 p.m. on Friday. A witness told them the driver appeared intoxicated when they pulled over on the side of the road near a bar.
“After being in the bar for a period of time, the driver disclosed that he had a child with him,” Mounties said. “A concerned citizen went out to his car and found the two-month-old child alone, cold and in distress.”
According to police, concerned citizens cared for the infant until police arrived and the baby was taken to the Leduc hospital in an ambulance. The child’s mother later went to the hospital.
“The child did not suffer any adverse affects from this incident,” police said, adding they believe the father left the bar in his vehicle, driving away before officers arrived.
The father has since been arrested and charged with multiple offences, including abandoning a child, causing a child to be in need of intervention and impaired operation of a motor vehicle.
Calmar is located about 40 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
According to Environment Canada, the temperature in Edmonton at 11 p.m. on Friday was -3.3 C.
Police did not release the name of the accused.