Father Arrested After Allegedly Abandoning Infant In Parking Lot

SUISUN CITY (CBS13) — An 18-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly abandoning his child at a Suisun City strip mall.

Daniel Mitchell was arrested on Monday night, hours after surveillance video surfaced of an infant being left out in front of a barber shop. Officers say he was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Fairfield.

Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of probable cause for child endangerment, child abandonment, committing a felony while on bail and misdemeanor possession of suspected cocaine.

The child is in protective custody.

Mitchell had previously been arrested on June 27 after a report of a burglar in Suisun City.

Business owners near where the child was abandoned on Monday afternoon jumped in to help the infant.

"Myself and another coworker of mine walked out, and there was actually a baby in the parking lot," said Eric Keaton.

He and another barber from J'S Barber Shop jumped into grab the car seat.

"We're just shocked—newborn baby," said Wendell Cooper. "Plus, the way people pull into the smoke shop, he could have been hit by a car."

Surveillance video from that smoke shop shows a man pulling up to a parking spot just after 3 p.m. on Monday. The man goes to the back of his car and takes out the car seat.

"He put the baby on the side, waited five to 10 minutes, saw if someone was around, then just pulled out," said Karen Grewal. "Any car could have hit the kid; it was super-hot outside, no clothes on the kid, wrapped in a blanket."

Suisun Police and medics checked the baby, but business owners say the infant didn't appear to be hurt and wasn't crying.

However, investigators say the testing revealed a condition that resulted in the infant being life-flighted to another hospital for treatment.