‘AITA for calling cops as a 2-year-old child ran around my neighborhood unsupervised?’

A 32-year-old man shared on Reddit how he called police on an unsupervised two-year-old child who was running around his neighborhood. In doing so he was only thinking about the child's safety but his intentions were misinterpreted and he was screamed at by his neighbor.

Taking to the 'Am I The A*****e' (AITA) forum, the original poster (OP), under the username pm_me_jupiter_photos, began his story, “Some little kid was outside playing with my boys in a suburban neighborhood, he was 2 years old and couldn't even talk yet.”

“If I had to guess, he probably had only been walking for 8 months when he was that young. He was out there with his ‘cousin/sister’ who was only 7 (she didn't know how she was related to him when I asked ‘is that your brother?’),” the OP wrote.

Man gets 'screamed' at by neighbor for calling the police

The man further noted that though he had “seen the sister/cousin before in the neighborhood", he could not tell where she lived or what her name was.

So, he decided to call the non-emergency number to report about the children. The OP revealed, “The dispatcher told me to keep them there and they would send an officer out. She asked me to stay on the phone until the officer got there.”

After sometime, a officer came to the OP’s place but at the same time, his “neighbor came out and was like ‘why did you call the police this isn't a police matter’". 

The OP said that the child was not his neighbor's. "I had until tonight a good rapport with my neighbor so I knew it wasn't theirs," he wrote.

“I was like ‘ma'am this boy can't even talk yet he's so young’ and she started screaming at me saying I should have taken him into my house and kept him safe,” the man added.

But that was not it, the woman continued "screaming" at the OP while saying “we take care of the kids in our neighborhood, if it was your kids I would do the same! you let them run around without you out here what if you were miles away and you found out that someone called the police on your kids".

The man was even called “a bad person” by the neighbor, before she “told the officer that she would handle it and started walking the boy home".

OP feels embarrassed after incident

The Redditor mentioned in his post that after the whole episode, he felt “dumbfounded and embarrassed".

“Like what the f*** was I supposed to just let this little kid run around the neighborhood? The cars use our street as a drag strip cause it's so straight and long and this kid couldn't even form words when he was that young. The officer just let her leave with the boy and didn't even go talk to the parents,” he explained.

The OP concluded his post by asking, “The whole neighborhood came outside to see what was happening cause this lady was screaming at me. So am I the a**hole?”

Redditors assure OP that he ‘did the right thing’

Other Reddit users quickly extended support to the OP.

One said, “Why did the cop release the kids to a non-relative with anger management issues? NTA.”

The second one wrote, “The truest thing I've read recently is that you know a story here is true when the cops are useless. NTA. Also, why didn't the neighbor step in sooner?”

Another commented, “NTA. As a Police officer, I’ve done this call 100s of times. A large percentage of times this exposes other neglects that need to be addressed. If it’s nothing, we just ensure the kids end up back with the parents and clear it with no further actions taken. You made the right decision, other people’s insecurities have no bearing on that. Also I am quite concerned that the Police allowed this neighbour to leave with the kids. If they didn’t even get their names I'd be following up with that department.”

“NTA. You did the right thing. Also the cop was just fine with this random lady taking these random kids? That's concerning,” an individual posted.

“NTA your neighbor was wrong for screaming at you. My kids never went out without me when they were that young 2, 7 or 10. Don't feel embarrassing,” another individual shared.

A comment read, “NTA. That officer did not do his job. I wish I were shocked. You, however, did the right thing. Your neighbor is wacko for yelling at you.”

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