A father has been arrested on suspicion of endangered children after taking his 2-year-old daughter to elephant habitat at the San Diego Zoo to take a picture with the animals
SAN DIEGO: A father has been arrested on suspicion of childhood danger after taking his 2-year-old daughter to elephant habitat at the San Diego Zoo to take a photo with the animals.
The man jumped multiple barriers and “intentionally and illegally transgressed” a habitat for Asian and African elephants on Friday afternoon, zoo spokesman Andrew James said.
A video witness provided on NBC in San Diego shows a man dropping the boy as they fled the compound while a trumpeting elephant carried them. The man picked up the little boy and was able to pull her out safely.
Police said the 25-year-old man wanted to take a picture with the African bull elephant. James said the elephants were not harmed.
San Diego County Prison records show that Jose Manuel Navarrete was detained on $ 100,000 bail to investigate the danger of minors. He was due to be tried on March 30.
It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer speaking on his behalf.
Witness Lori Ortale told KSWB-TV that she heard a woman shouting “Jose, stop” before a man jumped the fence and crossed the elephant enclosure.
“These guys would immediately say,‘ That elephant will charge, ’and he did,” Ortale said.
“We told him to come out and he turned around and fortunately saw him just in time,” said Jake Ortale, who also witnessed the incident. “She runs, throws her baby out the door and has a few seconds to hit him. He jumped out the door, fell to the ground and then roared. “
“The baby starts crying and people were angry with this boy,” she said.
After Navarrete’s arrest, the minor went home with her mother, police said.