A mother and father are accused of leaving their baby alone on a sidewalk while they went drinking at a Margate bar.
Antonio Nieves, 28, and Amy Schafer, 27, are facing child neglect charges following their arrests Tuesday. It's unknown if they've hired attorneys.
"Margate police are not good police. Margate police violated my rights," Nieves told reporters Wednesday.
Nieves, sporting a black eye and cuts to his head, appeared before Broward Judge John Hurley along with Schafer.
Authorities said it was around 1:30 in the morning when the couple brought their 3-month-old to the bar. The manager told NBC 6 he made the couple remove the baby from the bar.
Nieves allegedly put the baby on a bar stool and the manager again told them the baby couldn't be in the bar. That's when the couple allegedly put the baby out on the sidewalk.
"So she left her child, her baby outside the front door in a car carrier while she went inside to consume alcohol," Hurley said at the hearing. "She would go outside every five minutes to check on her baby and go back inside and continue taking shots."
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According to the bar manager, the couple began bickering and ended up leaving. A short time later their altercation escalated resulting in additional charges for Nieves.
"You allegedly committed domestic battery on her and you are also a part of neglecting the child," Hurley told Nieves.
From criminal court the handcuffed couple went to a custody hearing for the baby. The hearing revealed the couple is in South Florida on vacation and planned to relocate from Ocala to Fort Lauderdale.
With no local family and criminal litigation ahead, it was determined the baby will stay in DCF custody until home studies can be done on individuals the couple identified as possible custodial parents.
