Toddler was home alone when stove fire started, say Texas cops
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Texas man was arrested after he allegedly left his 17-month old baby alone in an apartment that later caught fire, reports CBS DFW.
Firefighters broke into the smoke-filled Fort Worth apartment at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and found the child in a bedroom underneath covers. The child started to cry after seeing the firefighters, officials said.
MedStar took the child to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth to be treated for smoke inhalation. Officials at the scene said that he will be okay, reports the station.
The boy's father, 34-year old Vincent Van Arsdale, told police he'd left a pot on the stove while he drove his wife to work.
"They talked to him over on the side. He said 'man I left a pot on the stove and I just went out for a second,'" neighbor Essie Maxberry told CBS DFW. "He left a pot on the stove and the baby in the house. Why would you do that? Where would you go and why would you leave a baby in the house? What was he thinking?"
Arsdale is charged with endangering a child and marijuana possession. He reportedly had eight outstanding warrants.