TAMPA — The tiny foot popped into view just as the tow truck driver pulled over to call in and let his bosses know he had picked up an illegally parked Nissan at an apartment complex.
John Davenport looked more closely and discovered there was a 13-month-old boy in the car he had just loaded onto his truck Tuesday night at Park Terrace Apartments.
"They need to be put under the jail for that," he said. "You just don't leave a child in a car for a second. You just don't do that."
The baby was asleep, buckled into a child safety seat in the back of the 1995 Nissan. Davenport, 31, of Tampa said the windows were just barely cracked.
"It wasn't even open enough for a dog," he said.
He called his dispatcher, who told him to call police immediately. He did, then forced open a door to let the child have some air.
Police arrived swiftly, rolling up to N 48th Street and E Hillsborough Avenue at 10:15 p.m. where he was waiting.
Twenty-five minutes later, a woman called Certified Impound Services Inc. at 1111 E Cass St. asking about the car — not the baby, Davenport said.
"It took an hour for someone to come pick up the baby from the police," he said. "But even then she wasn't panicking about her baby."
Officers located the car's driver, Edward Lee Riley, back at the Park Terrace Apartments after midnight Wednesday and learned that he was the boy's father, police said.
Riley, 34, of 3412 E Hanna St. told investigators he had been paying a quick visit to his uncle in the complex, near 40th Street and E Hillsborough Avenue, and never saw or heard the car being towed, according to a police report.
But Davenport says that account doesn't jibe with what he saw.
He said he entered the complex about 9:50 p.m. and immediately noticed that the car was parked in a residential space but didn't have a resident's parking pass. The tow truck driver said he circled the lot looking for more serious violations, then returned 15 minutes later to take photos of the car and load it onto his truck.
"That baby had to have been in that car for at least a half-hour before I found him," Davenport said. The car was drenched from an earlier shower, so it must have been sitting for a while before he drove in, he said.
"It had been raining before I got to apartment complex, and the windshield was all wet." That, and the windows' dark tint, made it hard to see inside, he said.
"I looked into the windshield before towing the car," Davenport said.
Police charged Riley with child neglect early Wednesday. He posted $2,000 bail and was released from the Orient Road Jail.
Riley could not be reached for comment.
The Department of Children and Families is investigating, and the child has been turned over to the care of his great-grandmother.
State records show Riley has been arrested more than 15 times and has served three prison sentences: in 1994 for cocaine charges, in 2000 cocaine and grand theft motor vehicle charges and in 2005 for driving with license suspended, revoked or canceled.
Before the tow truck job, Davenport drove oversized-load trucks for the school district.
In his three years with the towing company, this was a first, he said. "I've never seen anything like this before."
Davenport said the car was parked in an area plagued with property crimes. "Honestly, that's not a great neighborhood," he said.
The story could have ended badly for the little boy. "Someone could have stolen that car or worse," he said.
Robbyn Mitchell can be reached at rmitchell@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3373.
News
