Bridgeport Dad Leaves Toddler in Car Overnight After Drinking Heavily: Cops

A Bridgeport, Connecticut, man is facing charges after admitting to drinking heavily and leaving his 3-year-old son in the back of his car overnight, according to police.

Jeffrey Mejias Jr., 22, of Bridgeport, has been charged with risk of injury to a minor.

Police said Mejias admitted he had a lot to drink Friday night before going to pick up the child's mother from work early Saturday morning. Mejias brought the toddler with him.

The car, a tan 2002 Pontiac, got a flat tire, and Mejias got out and walked home, leaving the 3-year-old asleep in the back seat, according to police.

Police said the boy's mother found another ride home and told them she had assumed Mejias and the child were sleeping in the locked master bedroom.

She was unaware the child wasn't home when officers knocked on the door of Mejias' Arctic Street home Saturday morning, according to police.

A neighbor called 911 after noticing the child crying alone in a car parked on Arctic Street around 7 a.m. Saturday, police said. The child was "crouching in the middle section of the vehicle between the front and back seats," the caller told police.

The caller discovered the door was unlocked and took the child out of the car and held him on her porch while waiting for emergency responders.

Medical personnel responded to the scene, as well, and evaluated the child. Police said the boy was unharmed and was in "good physical condition."

The child, whose diaper was soaked through, was taken to Bridgeport Hospital to be checked out, cleaned up and fed.

The boy was released to the care of his mother and the Department of Children and Families was notified.

Bridgeport police searched the car and found a tire iron in the front passenger seat, as well as a flat tire for the right front side of the car.

Police went to the home of the registered owner of the car the boy was found in and the resident told police that her grandson uses the car and lives with his girlfriend at an address close to where police found the car, police said.

Officers went to that address and found the boy's mother, who said she had been working the night before at 2 a.m. She was taken to see her son.

As police were towing the Pontiac, Mejias Jr. returned to the scene. He admitted to police that he drank a lot that night and went to the child's mother's home to get something and fell asleep in the bedroom there, police said.

Police arrested him at the scene.

Court records show Mejias was released from custody on a promise to appear in court. It's not clear if he has an attorney.

No one answered the door at his house Tuesday evening.

His bond was set at $20,000.

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