Mobile police booked a local man into jail after witnesses reported he was running erratically through traffic on Dauphin Island Parkway while holding a small child, according to the Mobile Police Department.
Officers responded to a call about a disorderly man near the intersection of Dauphin Island Parkway and Old Military Road. When they arrived, they found a man in his late 30s who appeared to be under the influence, cradling a young child as he moved through the roadway.
Bystanders told officers the man had been carrying the child for some time before police arrived. The child was not injured and was handed over to a family member once officers secured the scene.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where medical staff determined he was impaired by a controlled substance at the time of the incident. He was later transported to the Mobile County Metro Jail and booked on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor under Alabama law.
Jail records reviewed by South Alabama News show the arrest was far from the man’s first encounter with law enforcement. He has accumulated numerous bookings dating back more than two decades, with prior charges including domestic violence, resisting arrest and drug possession.
Police did not release additional details about the child’s age or relationship to the man, and no further charges had been announced as of the time of the report.
Incidents involving impaired individuals in high-traffic areas remain a persistent concern for Mobile police, who regularly patrol Dauphin Island Parkway, one of the city’s busier corridors connecting midtown neighborhoods to the western part of the county. Officers say bystander reports, like the one that led to this arrest, are often critical to preventing more serious harm.
The case remains under review, and it was not immediately clear when the man would appear in court.