Father of Paris balcony rescue boy was ‘playing Pokemon Go’

Man to appear in court after leaving
toddler alone in fourth-floor apartment

One-Minute Read

Video footage of bystander Mamoudou Gassama rapidly scaling the outside of
an apartment building on Sunday to rescue a four-year-old boy
hanging from a fourth-floor balcony turned the 22-year-old Malian
migrant into a national hero.

As the clip went viral around the world, Gassama
was invited to meet President Emmanuel Macron, and commended for
his bravery with a promise of French citizenship and a job with the
fire service.

However, many in France and beyond wondered
where the boy’s parents were at the time of the incident, and how
the child had ended up in such a precarious situation.

Prosecutors have revealed that the boy’s father
left the toddler alone in the flat while he went out to shop for
groceries at a nearby supermarket, but then lingered outside to
play mobile game Pokemon Go.

Paris public prosecutor Francois Molins told news site
20 Minutes that the father, a man in his
twenties, “got it into his head” to play the game after
shopping and was “distraught” to learn what had taken place in his
absence.

“I think he understands what he did, the terrible consequences
it could have had,” Molin said.

The unidentified man was taken into custody on
Sunday night, but has since been released. He will appear in court
in September, facing two years in prison or a fine of up to €30,000
for child neglect.

The boy’s mother and a younger sibling were in
Reunion, the French island in the Indian Ocean from which the
family originally hails, at the time.

The unnamed woman told local TV channel Antenne Reunion that she had spoken to her
husband and son on a video call half an hour before the
incident.

The boy’s father was “distressed” by what had
happened, she said, adding: “I’m not justifying what my husband
did. My son was very lucky.”

As for Gassama, she said she would like to thank
him for his quick-thinking bravery in person after her return to
France today.