New photos show a Miami Beach Police officer comforting a 2-year-old who was found wandering alone, and the parents are expressing their remorse after being accused of child neglect.
Daryl Lentz, Ciera Hurd and their four children came down to South Beach from Baltimore to celebrate a couple of birthdays.
On Sept. 9, the couple says they decided to step out that night and leave their children behind in the apartment. They say their 12-year-old was awake and their 11, 5, and 2-year-old were asleep.
“I guess he forgot to lock the door,” Lentz said.
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Officers had responded to a building on Ocean Drive back on Sept. 10 after the child was found walking around and crying for her mother, police said.
The officers went door-to-door until they found the door to a unit on the third floor open and three children sleeping inside with no adult in sight. Police determined the 2-year-old had wandered out of the unit and went down three flights of stairs before being found.
The photos posted by police on social media on Thursday show the 2-year-old asleep in an officer's arms.
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"As investigators attempted to locate the parents, Officer Miller’s nurturing instincts kicked in — as he attentively comforted the child, eventually soothing her to sleep," the post read.
The parents of the 2-year-old were located and arrested for child neglect after investigators determined the children had been left alone for over four hours, police said.
“It's nice you took your children on vacation to celebrate your birthday, you can't leave them alone for a minute because look what happened, you got to spend two days in jail,” the judge said to Lentz in court.
All four kids are with the Department of Children and Families. The couple is desperate to get their children back.
“It was a small, tragic mistake that I'm really hurt about and I don't know what to do,” Lentz said. “We've been doing a lot of crying, a lot of crying, every time we see pictures we cry.”
The judge said both parents are allowed to see their children while they’re in DCF custody. Lentz and Hurd are expected back in court in a couple of weeks.
“We are really good parents, we are good people, we don't leave our children, this is not a regular thing for us,” Hurd said.
