Background: The street where Tanisja Clyburn’s 3-year-old son was allegedly found wandering alone in his underwear. Inset: Tanisja Clyburn (Monroe (N.C.) Police Dept.).
A 3-year-old boy in North Carolina was found in the parking lot of a bar after wandering a quarter-mile from a home where his mother had left him — and she didn’t seem to mind.
Tanisja Clyburn — seen flashing a wide grin in her booking photo — was arrested Friday after her son was found “walking in his underwear with no adult supervision in sight,” police in Monroe said in a statement posted on Facebook. The 26-year-old mom is accused of leaving the child at a home “without checking to confirm that someone was at the residence to provide care.”
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Police say the boy then wandered away from the home, entered “several streets,” and ultimately crossed the road. Multiple witnesses called 911 at around 10 a.m. on Friday about “a young child wandering alone in the area of Concord Avenue,” the Monroe Police statement said.
“A Good Samaritan safely secured the child and remained with him until officers arrived about 3 minutes later,” police noted. The boy had apparently walked more than a quarter-mile from the home and was ultimately found by witnesses “in the parking lot of The Spot Bar and Grill.”
Police said they were able to identify the child relatively quickly — and they learned that Friday’s incident was apparently not the first of its kind.
“This marks the second incident in recent months where the same child was located on Concord Avenue without adult supervision,” the statement said. The boy’s 26-year-old mother had “dropped the child off at a relative’s home without notifying anyone and then left the location herself,” according to police.
Clyburn has been charged with misdemeanor child abuse. Police noted that the investigation is ongoing, and that the “appropriate child protective services have been notified.”
Monroe is located around 25 miles southeast of Charlotte.
