A father in Florida was arrested after he allegedly let his 4-year-old son wander onto a busy road for roughly an hour, claiming that he lost track of the young boy because he had “too much energy.”
Semyon Levin was charged with child neglect without great bodily harm following the incident, which took place on Wednesday, August 19, around 3 p.m. when Levin, 63, was at a Starbucks in Sunny Isles, Florida. He was eating and watching his son until the boy wandered off.
Levin was arrested and placed in jail, while he made his first appearance in court on Thursday, August 20. He has since pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Levin denied wrongdoing, telling officers that “he lost sight” of his son, according to an arrest affidavit filed by the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department and viewed by Law & Crime. While he admitted to not knowing where his son was, Levin did not take “immediate action such as contacting police to request help in locating him.”
He said he believed his son was walking home from Starbucks with “an adult” and his two daughters, who are 9 years old and 7 years old. He went on to say “that he constantly loses sight” of the young boy and that his son “has too much energy.” Because of his energy level, Levin said it’s “hard for him to keep him in sight.”
Levin was asked why he didn’t call the police when he realized his son was missing, and he “stated that he did not think [the boy] being lost constituted an emergency.”
Police found the boy when a motorist stopped to tell an officer during a traffic stop that there was “a wandering small child on the sidewalk.” The motorist said that the boy was heading North and “had visible redness on his face.” Additionally, the motorist said the boy was carrying a half-eaten slice of pizza.
The officer found the child and placed him in his vehicle before he tried to locate his guardians.
The officer eventually noticed a woman “walking rapidly” outside a nearby apartment complex. The woman, who was accompanied by a girl, then confirmed to the officer “that she was looking for her son.”
The woman was revealed to be Levin’s wife, and she contacted him to tell him to come to the scene. He “responded to the scene and admitted” that the boy had been under his supervision when he went missing, and he said that he last saw their son about an hour earlier.
The investigation into the case remains ongoing.
