'I hadn't slept for 3 days': Father speaks out when toddler is found alone on busy street

WEST VIEW, Pa. — Last week, a man was charged after his three-year-old son was found riding a scooter down a busy street by himself.

On Monday, that father told Channel 11 he wants his child to know he's not a bad parent.

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Jesse O'Dell says he's worked for the last two-and-a-half years to get custody of his son. But after just one-day, a big mistake led Children and Youth Services to take the boy away.

“I wasn't asleep for more than an hour and a half,” O’Dell said.

When O'Dell fell asleep Thursday, his son got out of their third-floor apartment and was spotted on surveillance cameras riding a scooter down Perry Highway in West View.

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Fortunately, two women immediately spotted the toddler.

“I hadn't slept for three days before that,” O’Dell said. “Because I just got custody of Braden the night before and I was up all night, thinking about the case, worried about whether or not I was going to get my son.”

But police say what made the case worse was when they found O’Dell, he was unaware of where his one-year-old daughter was.

"We looked around the house and she was sleeping in the toilet," O'Dell said. "This, to me, isn't surprising – Braden likes to help his sister."

O'Dell believes the kids had been working on their potty training.

The 21-year-old says he and his girlfriend work minimum wage jobs and have been trying to get help with childcare, but that they can't afford it.

He says he's a good father who made a mistake.

“It's awful and I regret falling asleep more than anything,” he said.

O’Dell was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. He says CYS has custody of his kids right now.

Cox Media Group