Dallas tow truck driver takes car with sleeping seven-year-old inside

DALLAS - Police says a Dallas tow truck driver unknowingly hauled away a car with a seven-year-old asleep inside before returning the vehicle minutes later and speeding away.

The panicked parents of the missing boy watched the driver hurriedly unhook their car and take off as they met with authorities late Monday.

Twenty-three-year-old Fidel Retana Jr. was pulled over a short time later and arrested on child endangerment charges.

But police expect to drop the charges. Dallas police Sgt. Brenda Nichols says "it appeared that he did not intend to take the child."

Retana's lawyer, David Traylor, says his client noticed the boy only when he stopped to ensure that the car was hooked up properly. The car had been parked in a fire lane while the boy's mother ran upstairs to her apartment.

Traylor said Retana left the second time in a hurry because he knew the parents were there and were probably angry.

"He tried to do everything he could to get the kid back quickly," Traylor said.

Authorities said the boy's mother was crying and vomiting outside when they arrived. The boy was still asleep when the car was returned.

"I hate the way towing people run the business," said Sergio Zuniga, the boy's father.

Um, HELLO!!!! Does no-one care that this woman left her 7-yr-old alone on the street in a car????? Why isn't she being charged with negligence? If this had happened where I live Mom would be the one in trouble, not the tow-truck driver who was only doing his job.

This is ass-backwards, IMO.