The father of a young boy who was dangling from a balcony in Paris was out shopping and playing Pokémon Go while his son almost fell out of a building, authorities said.
The father will be charged with missing in action, police said.
The boy was saved by a migrant from Mali, who scaled the apartment building to rescue him. Mamoudou Gassama, who was in France illegally, climbed five stories, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked the 4-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed in horror. His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed “Spiderman.” The unnamed father was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is set to appear in court in September.
He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokémon Go, Prosecutor François Molins told BFM-TV. The boy’s mother was not home, either, Molins said, according to ABC News, because she was visiting France’s Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean with relatives.
“He took a long time to return home because he had decided to play the smartphone game Pokémon Go when he left the store,” Molins told BFM-TV. “He is devastated because he realizes what he did, and the tragic consequences that it could have led to.” President Emmanuel Macron on Monday lauded the 22-year-old as a hero, and rewarded the young migrant’s bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter. Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for “courage and devotion.”
Credit: The Associated Press
