Facebook/Cody Cannon
Evgeniy Dorman is the New Jersey dad who is accused of child neglect after Cody Cannon’s Facebook photo of a child crawling across the street went viral. Cannon has since deleted his Facebook post. The photo can be viewed above.
The Asbury Park Press reports that Dorman, 41, has been charged with cruelty and neglect of a child after he surrendered to police on September 28. The incident occurred in Lakewood, New Jersey. Lakewood police spokesman Sgt. Gregory Staffordsmith told the Press that the child crawled through an open door that authorities think was left “unsecured” by an older sibling. The child sustained no injuries as a result.
Cannon told NJ.com that he was on his way home at around 6 p.m. on September 22 when he saw the child. It was Cannon who reported the incident to police.
Some social media users said that Cannon should have helped the baby first before taking the photo. Police said that the family did not know the baby had escaped until he was returned to them. The baby’s caretaker told the Press that the incident was an accident. The baby was unharmed as a result. Cannon told the Press that when he went to return the child to his home, the door was ajar and another, older child, answered the door. A neighbor defended the parents to the Press saying, “We are all people of means. If we felt there was a problem with the family, we would have gotten them the help they needed. We are a community that takes care of each other.”
Speaking to CBS New York, Cannon described the moment he saw the child, “I wasn’t actually sure what it was or what was going on, but once I saw the baby move, just, my heart stopped, and I knew I had to something. Hopefully, I did the right thing. I yelled for the neighbors that I saw that were in their yard playing with their children. Someone actually came over, picked the child up, said it wasn’t her child. So we walked over to the adjacent house, knocked on the door, the door was wide open. A toddler came and answered the door initially. Then the adult came. We explained to him what was going on and gave him his daughter back. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.” Cannon went on to tell the station that he is the father of a 4-year-old child. Cannon added, “It was like a shock to the system. You have to be more aware of your surroundings and be able to pay a little more attention to your children. That’s basically what it comes down.”
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