The father of a young boy rescued while dangling from a Paris balcony on Monday was out playing Pokemon Go when the incident happened, according to police.
The four-year-old’s father told French police he had left his son alone to go shopping and returned home later than planned because he was playing Pokemon Go on his smartphone, according to French prosecutor Francois Molins.
The child was being looked after by his father in Paris while his mother was living on Reunion Island, a French island off the east coast of Africa, Molins told BFM-TV.
“His behaviour constitutes an offence, failing to honour parental responsibilities, which carries a possible sentence of two years in jail,” Molins said.
WATCH: Macron says Mali migrant who rescued child granted citizenship, will become firefighter
The child has been taken into care by the French authorities, French media reported.
Video of the rescue showed a 22-year-old Malian migrant climbing five stories up an apartment building to save the dangling child, while horrified onlookers watched.
The footage of Mamoudou Gassama’s bravery went viral on social media, where he was dubbed “Spider-Man.”
“I did it because it was a child,” French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Gassama as saying. “I climbed …. Thank God I saved him.”
Gassama met with French President Emmanuel Macron who personally thanked him, and said he would be rewarded for his “exceptional act” with papers to legalize his stay if he wants and a job as a firefighter.
WATCH: Malian hero receives French residency permit after rescuing boy from balcony
Gassama told Macron he tried to cross the Mediterranean in March 2014 to reach Italy but was caught by police.
Europe has faced a migrant crisis since 2015 following wars in Libya and Syria and more than one million people from Africa and the Middle East have tried to reach the continent via Turkey or by sea.
— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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