Police say there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of negligence or neglect on the part of the parents of a 3-year-old boy who wandered away from home Sunday morning.
The boy apparently managed to unlock the door to his parents' Humboldt Park apartment, make his way to an elevator of the multi-unit building, take the elevator down to the lobby and walk out the main door of the building and about a block down until he was spotted by someone who called police.
That person spotted the boy wandering on the sidewalk in the 1600 block of North Spaulding Avenue around 8:35 a.m.
The boy was clothed in a white T-shirt, white underwear, and Spiderman sandals, police said.
Police immediately took protective custody of the boy and called for an ambulance, which took him to Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital for a medical evaluation, Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said. The boy was reported to be in good condition.
Officers canvassed the area and within 20 minutes found the boy’s mother, who was “very shaken” as she, along with an uncle, were searching for the boy, Mirabelli said. The mother was then reunited with her child at the hospital.
Mirabelli said the incident “doesn’t appear to be” an instance of negligence or neglect. “The child was just able to escape the watchful eyes of his parents.”
