Child, 3, Left to Wander Evergreen Terrace Halls While Dad Gets Bite To Eat: Cops

A Chicago man left his 3-year-old son alone to wander the halls of an Evergreen Terrace apartment building for at least an hour and a half while he went to get something to eat Friday afternoon, police said.

Desmond Mayo, 22, explained to the cops that his car broke down along the way, police said. He was still arrested on a charge of endangering the life or health of a child.

Police were called to a the third floor of a building in the Evergreen Terrace complex after a 3-year-old was found alone in the hallway. Officers determined the boy lived there and they found his apartment, but no one answered the door.

A neighbor then provided police with the phone number for the child’s mother. When she was contacted, the mother explained that she was at work and the boy’s father — Mayo — was supposed to be watching him, police said.

Mayo showed up about an hour and a half later and told how he left his son in the apartment while he went to get something to eat, police said, but that his car broke down and he was just at that time finally able to make it back.

Mayo was taken into custody but released on his own recognizance. The Department of Children and Family Services was called to take charge of the boy. DCFS later turned him over to his mother.