Surrey dad charged for striking 3-year-old boy, leaving him at bus stop

Surrey RCMP have arrested and charged a man for allegations that he hit a three-year-old boy and abandoned him at a bus stop on Saturday morning.

At approximately 11 a.m., witnesses saw an adult male striking the toddler in the face and pushing him at a bus stop near the intersection of 152 Street and 64 Avenue in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood. He apparently then boarded a bus and left the toddler behind.

According to the Canadian Press, the witnesses brought him inside Berezan Liquor Store at the strip mall located across the street from the northbound bus stop and cared for him for four hours. They provided him with warm clothes as he was soaking wet – wearing only swim trunks, a t-shirt, a light summer jacket, a toque and one mitten.

The police and the Ministry of provincial government’s child services were called in an effort to identify the boy and investigate the incident. He was quickly reunited with his mother and is now safe.

On Saturday night, RCMP arrested a Surrey man in his early 40s who has since been identified as the child’s father. He was released with conditions and has been scheduled to appear in court for charges of assault, child abandonment and theft.

The third charge of theft is being recommended by police as prior to the incident of child abandonment, the father was allegedly caught on CCTV stealing cartons of juice from a convenience store located at the strip mall.

The identity of the father has not been released, but photos of the child taken at the liquor store went viral on social media on as part of a public plea to identify the boy.

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