Toddler found alone at Cedar Point while her dad rode roller coasters, Ohio cops say

An Ohio father is accused of leaving his young children to look after themselves while he spent the day enjoying the rides at Cedar Point amusement park, police told news outlets.

The 36-year-old man — who McClatchy News is not naming in order to protect the identities of his kids — is charged with child endangerment following his family’s Aug. 16 visit to the park, WJW reported.

According to Sandusky police, the situation came to light when a woman found a 2-year-old girl alone, playing in the dirt near the Magnum XL-200 roller coaster, at about 9 p.m., the outlet reported. After speaking with the unattended toddler, she led the woman toward the Corkscrew ride, and to her 4-year-old sibling whom she had apparently wandered away from, police said.

The 4-year-old was sitting in a wagon, but there were no adults keeping tabs on either of the children, so the woman contacted park security, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. A police officer arrived and waited for the father to return, police said.

The man told officers he had only been gone for “a couple of minutes,” however, the ride was shut down for at least 20 minutes while the man was waiting in line to get on, the newspaper reported.

The father said his 8-year-old daughter was supposed to be watching her younger siblings while he was waiting to ride the Corkscrew, police told The Advertiser-Tribune.

Police learned that the family arrived at Cedar Point about seven hours earlier, at 1:30 p.m., and the dad had been doing the same thing throughout the day, putting his 8-year-old in charge of the other kids while he went on the attractions, according to the outlet. He was the only adult in the group.

Cedar Point is in Sandusky, a roughly 60-mile drive west from Cleveland.

This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Toddler found alone at Cedar Point while her dad rode roller coasters, Ohio cops say."