MIAMI (WSVN) – The good Samaritan who found a young boy wandering down a dark street in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood said he did anyone in his shoes would have likely done.
The discovery of the boy, believed to be around 6 years old, late Wednesday night led to the arrest of his mother, Annie Rivera.
7News cameras on Thursday captured Rivera, 30, as she was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade,
Arnett Johnson, who spotted the child roaming alone in a the dark, spoke with 7News Friday morning.
“I did what I had to do, you know what I’m saying? Anybody would have probably done the same thing,” he said
Johnson, who is homeless, said he was walking in Allapattah, where he typically sleeps, when he saw the boy all alone, just before midnight on Wednesday.
“So my mind told me, the only thing I could do is call the police,” he said.
City of Miami Police units responded to the area near Northwest Seventh Avenue and 17th Street shortly after.
According to the arrest report, when officers arrived, “The victim stated, ‘Mommy drop me off and left me.’”
“We’re talking about a 6-year-old that has, obviously, a learning problem, disabilities, that he shouldn’t have been out on the street to begin with,” said City of Miami Police Officer Michael Vega.
Police then broadcast the boy’s photo with hopes of tracking down his family. They eventually got a lead.
“The school where he attends called us and gave us that information,” said Vega.
Officers then headed to the mother’s home, which she shares with another family.
The arrest report states that at one point, one of the children even asked where Rivera’s son was, to which the mother responded “she did not know and thought maybe the victim was at the godmother’s house.”
Friday morning, Rivera stood before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
“You were arrested for child neglect,” said Glazer.
The judge ordered Rivera to only have supervised contact with her son.
“I’ll give her pretrial services, alternate bond $2,500,” said Glazer.
Rivera will also have to attend a dependency hearing, as police attempt to determine how the boy ended up by himself.
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