On Sunday, Virginia mom Kristi Ann Letima, 27, told police that someone had stolen her car with her 2-year-old boy inside.
What she didn’t tell authorities was that the man was actually her boyfriend and the child’s father, 28-year-old Kyle Steven Sunday.
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WHSV reports that the father was spotted by an officer around 5 p.m. the next day. He was driving the stolen car and had the infant boy sitting in his lap.
The officer pulled Sunday over, but he quickly took off on foot with the 2-year-old in his arms.
That’s when police started a pursuit, NBC 4 reports.
Sunday was running with his son when he passed a creek with a steep embankment.
An officer watched as the father threw his 2-year-old into the creek and continued running. Police stopped the chase in order to save the child.
Strasburg Police Chief Wayne Sager said:
“If no one would have seen the child in the water, the worst case scenario is that the child would have drowned.”
The infant sustained several lacerations from being thrown down the embankment, but is expected to be okay.
Police tracked down Sunday hiding in the attic of a nearby home a short time later and he was taken into custody.
He was brought up on multiple charges including child abuse and neglect, reckless driving, and driving with a suspended license, NBC 4 reports.
Sunday’s girlfriend was charged with filing a false police report for not disclosing that her car was stolen by her boyfriend. She was also brought up on child abuse charges.
The child is now in the custody of social services.