Stephen Ellison

Police Arrest Father Who Allegedly Abandoned Baby in Suisun City Strip Mall Parking Lot

Police arrested the father of a 16-day-old baby boy who was abandoned in the parking lot of a Suisun City strip mall Monday.

Daniel Mitchell, 18, was taken into custody on probable cause for child endangerment, child abandonment, committing a felony while on bail and misdemeanor possession of suspected cocaine, Suisun City police said.

A little after 3 p.m. Monday, a pair of barber shop employees at the strip mall in the 140 block of Sunset Avenue noticed a car seat sitting in the parking lot and went to pick it up when he saw the baby inside of it, police said. The barber took the baby inside and called police.

"He pulled up, took the baby out, put him down," said Wendell Cooper, explaining what he saw outside the barber shop at the Sunset Mall. "He sat him down, took him back out then he gets in the car and he leaves."

Eriq Keeton grabbed the car seat and brought it inside the barber shop.

"I walked over (there) and saw the baby sitting in the car seat," he said.

Surveillance video from one of the businesses captured it all, and officers were able trace the license plate back to Mitchell, police said. 

Mitchell was involved in a hit-and-run crash in Fairfield later Monday and was apprehended by Fairfield police in that incident. He was transported to North Bay Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries sustained in the collision.

Suisun City police interviewed him at the hospital and identified him as the boy's father.

The baby was in the care of Solano County Child Protective Services late Monday, police said, and investigators were talking with the baby's mother.

Initially, the boy did not appear injured, but he was airlifted to Children's Hospital Oakland as a precaution when he appeared to have redness in one eye, police said.

Mitchell was previously arrested on June 27 by Suisun City police on multiple felony charges, including possession of a firearm, after a report of a burglary on Gray Hawk Lane in Suisun City, police said.

Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to contact Detective Sousa at (707) 421-7361. Information can also be reported anonymously to Solano Crime Stoppers at (707) 644-7867.

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