Dad Finds Drunk Stranger Holding His Crying Toddler at 2 a.m.

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If there’s one place we should be able to feel safe from random strangers grabbing our children, it’s in our own homes. But last week a man who got up to take care of his crying toddler in the middle of the night was horrified to find a complete stranger walking around with the 2-year-old in his arms.

According to The Washington Post, the father got up at around 2 a.m. and went to check on his 2-year-old daughter. That’s when he saw a disheveled man he’d never seen before, just sitting on his couch like nothing was wrong. He was holding the crying, pajama-clad little girl on his lap.

The father understandably freaked out and jumped at the man, who just drunkenly insisted that he was their friend, and that nothing was wrong.

The baby’s mother grabbed the girl and called 911 while the father tried to stop the guy from leaving the apartment. That’s pretty smart, because I think my first reaction would have been, “Oh my god, get out get out get out!” But of course he didn’t want the guy to get away before police could arrest him and figure out what was going on. He wound up wrestling the intruder for nearly 10 minutes.

Upon arrest, it was evident that the intruder was completely drunk. When he talked to police later he said he’d been drinking with a friend at a nearby house, and that he went outside to smoke a cigarette and must have gone into the wrong house on his way back. He said he didn’t remember anything much that happened after that, but he said he had memories of meeting and playing with a “midget” after he left his friend’s house.

Police say they found the man’s shoes, coat, and passport scattered around the toddler’s room, and the police report indicates the man was extremely upset and started crying when they told him that he’d picked up a small child out of her crib and was found carrying her around the house.

The man was arrested and faces charges of second-degree burglary, assault, and kidnapping.