PUYALLUP, Wash. — A father has been charged with child abandonment for allegedly kicking his young daughter out of the car because she was being “disruptive and loud,” leaving her on the shoulder of a highway.
Washington State Patrol responded to an area on SR 512 in Puyallup around 7 p.m. on Aug. 23. Callers said that they saw a man take his child out of the car and drive off, according to court documents.
Those callers stayed with the 4-year-old to make sure she didn’t walk into highway traffic.
The man eventually came back, and witnesses said he looked “visibly agitated.”
When troopers spoke to the 35-year-old man, he allegedly admitted to leaving his child as a form of discipline.
He said his child was “disruptive and loud” and wasn’t listening to him, and said she was being “super sassy” and was “screaming,” court documents said.
The man also “acknowledged it was a poor decision,” docs said.
He said his wife is deployed and that he is taking care of five children and is “under a lot of stress,” court documents detailed.
He was booked for reckless abandonment.
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