Dad Who Allegedly Left Baby In Parking Lot Pleads Not Guilty To Child Abandonment, Endangerment

SOLANO COUNTY, CA -- An 18-year-old father accused of leaving his 16-day-old infant son in a Suisun City parking lot Monday has pleaded not guilty to felony child endangerment and abandonment charges filed against him by the Solano County District Attorney's Office. Daniel Stephen Mitchell, of Fairfield, was arraigned on the charges Wednesday afternoon and is being held at the Solano County Jail on $500,000 bail.

Prosecutors allege Mitchell committed the offenses while he was out on bail in another case. He also was charged Wednesday with a misdemeanor county of possession of cocaine, which police say he had on him when he was arrested Monday.

Police say Mitchell left his infant son in a car seat in the parking lot of the Sunset Shopping Center in Suisun City. Employees of a barbershop at the center at 135 Sunset Ave. spotted the child in the baby carrier around 3:15 p.m. Monday and called police.

The baby boy was taken to the NorthBay Medical Center and was transferred to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland. He was in stable condition Wednesday, police said.

Mitchell was identified as the suspect when police reviewed surveillance footage from the shopping center and saw his car parked next to the baby carrier in the parking lot, police said.

Shortly after leaving the shopping center, Mitchell was involved in an alleged hit-and-run traffic collision in Fairfield. Suisun City police were still at the shopping center when they were alerted that Fairfield police had detained Mitchell in connection with the crash.

Suisun City police say they caught up with Mitchell while he was at NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield for treatment of injuries he suffered in the crash. Officers confirmed his identity as the baby's father and took him into custody, police said.

Police say they interviewed the infant's mother, who is not considered a suspect.

• RELATED: Dad Abandons Baby In Parking Lot, Crashes, Arrested With Cocaine: Police

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

Photos via Suisun City Police Department