According to reports from WESH, James R. Irvine has been charged with child neglect after he reportedly left his pit bull to babysit his 10-month-old son at home while he went to a bar. WESH gathered the information from Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies. Irvine is from Palm Coast, Florida.
The name of the baby’s mother has yet to be released, but she did inform police that she was at work on Friday night, when the incident occurred. She told authorities that she left her boyfriend, Irvine, to watch the baby, according to NBC Miami.
The baby’s mother also said that she called Irvine multiple times prior to 11 p.m. Irvine failed to answer the phone the first couple of times she called but when he finally did, Irvine told her that he was “watching the game” and then hung up on the woman.
When the woman returned home she found Irvine urinating on himself as he attempted to enter the home through the garage door. The woman told police that Irvine admitted to her that he had been at a bar drinking, but never said he had not truly left the baby home alone because the “pit bull was watching the baby.”
The police report, obtained by the Palm Beach Post, said that the mother found her son crying alone in a room. The dog was outside the room when the woman came home. The woman called police and Irvine was arrested around 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
Irvine told deputies that he was home all night long on Friday and never went to a bar. However, a local bar’s bartender told police that she saw Irvine at about 9:30 Friday night, according to the sheriff’s report. The bar tender also told police that Irvine did not pay his tab at the bar. Irvine, after being taken into custody, was released on $1,500 bail.