SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A man is being accused of abandoning a 3-year-old in a car as he tried to run from multiple police responding to a chase.
According to the Scranton Police Department, on Friday around 7:00 p.m., state police pulled over a car on the McDade Expressway that was weaving in between traffic.
Police say the driver, Roger Griffin, 39, of Scranton, gave his identification and troopers noticed a 3-year-old girl fastened into a car seat, whom Griffin was looking after.
When state police asked Griffin to step out of the car he put the car in drive and sped off. A pursuit began through a few roads and Griffin was reported to have sped up to 70 mph, investigators stated.
As stated in the affidavit, Griffin abandoned the car and the toddler in the car seat in the 2100 block of Farr Street and fled the area on foot. Police said they were able to track Griffin to a nearby parking lot and arrested him.
The Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services took custody of the 3-year-old girl.
A search warrant was obtained for the vehicle and roughly 600 packets commonly used for packing narcotics were found but police did not find drugs, according to court documents.
Griffin remains in the Lackawanna County Prison on a $50,000 bail. He has been charged with child endangerment, fleeing police, recklessly endangering another person, and evading arrest.
