FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A Flagler County father was arrested after his 4-year-old boy was seen running out across State Road 100 early Tuesday morning, according to the sheriff’s office.
In an affidavit, deputies said they responded to the area near State Road 100 and McCormick Drive around 12:03 a.m. after a driver reported the child in the roadway.
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According to the driver, he had seen the 4-year-old “at the last second, preventing a potentially deadly crash,” deputies said.
The affidavit shows that the driver stopped and pulled into the median, moving the child to safety until law enforcement arrived.
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Investigators said they learned from the child that he came from the home of his father — Christian Zaborowsky, 22 — and was trying to get to his mother’s house. Deputies reported that the child had suffered some bloody scrapes on his left foot.
According to the affidavit, deputies then went to Zaborowski’s apartment, though he didn’t answer the door when deputies knocked. Deputies said that Zaborowski later told them he was asleep and hadn’t heard them.
However, deputies were eventually able to contact the child’s stepmother, who immediately returned to the apartment to wake Zaborowski, investigators said. Deputies explained that Zaborowski and the stepmother then came back out with a 1-year-old child.
After interviewing the couple, deputies learned that the 4-year-old has a “history of acting out when he gets in trouble,” and he tends to leave the apartment when he gets into trouble or misses his mother, investigators said.
The couple had also left their doors unlocked when going to bed at night, as the child new how to unlock and open them anyway, according to court records.
Zaborowski also explained that he had recently disciplined the boy over his behavior, which caused him to leave the apartment and head toward his mother’s home, deputies said.
Due to Zaborowski failing to “properly secure” the apartment, deputies took him into custody on a charge of child neglect. He was later released on bond.
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