A 10-month-old baby was left alone, cats in another room and a pit bull on the hallway

Dec 8, 2012 08:37 GMT  ·  By

A 10-month-old baby was left in his father's care in Palm Coast, northeastern Florida. 41-year-old James R. Irvine had to go out to get beer, so he decided to leave the baby with the family pit bull.

Irvine left the baby alone in the house, with only the dog by his side, while he went to a local bar, according to a Flagler County sheriff's report paraphrased by the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The incident happened on Saturday, December 1, at around 12:30 a.m. local time. The baby's mother arrived home at noon after her shift, which kept her out since the previous night. She told deputies that she tried to reach Irvine many times, the last of which was a day before, at 11 p.m.

"I'm watching the game," he responded at the time, hanging up on her.

As the woman arrived home, she noticed Irvine had been consuming alcohol, and was clearly intoxicated. He was trying to enter their residence through the garage door. Asked where he was and what he was doing, he responded he was out "having a few drinks."

As she was concerned about the whereabouts of the baby, he reassured her that he hadn't "left the baby alone," as the "pit bull was watching the baby."

The bartender at local pub McCharacter's, where Irvine was a regular, told police he drank 6 beers in the bar, until 9:30 p.m. She remembered because he left without paying his tab, and said he would return.

As deputies came in, they noticed the baby was not in the same room as the dog.

"The dog was sitting outside the room, and the baby was crying," he states in his report.

The child was "wet and clearly hadn't been changed in a while," while the family cats were locked in another room. Irvine was arrested for child neglect, and jailed.