Police: Dad visits strip club, leaves boy in truck

INDIANAPOLIS -- A father who left his 5-year-old son in his semi-trailer truck while he ducked into a Near-Southside strip club was charged Tuesday with felony neglect and public intoxication.

Donald Crawford, 39, Franklin, was arrested at 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when he left Sassy Kat's Showclub and called police to report his truck stolen and his child missing.

Police said he was simply too drunk to remember where he had parked.

"The semi truck was still right where he left it. Just outside the bar," according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan police report. "His level of intoxication prevented him from finding it."

Police found Crawford's son watching cartoons on a television inside the cab, the report said.

Police said the keys to the truck were in the ignition and the doors were unlocked. Police said Crawford put his son in jeopardy by leaving him exposed in a high crime area.

A bartender told police Crawford had been inside drinking for 45 minutes.

Crawford was taken to the Marion County Jail, and his wife drove from Franklin to pick up the boy. The truck and its cargo of aluminum were towed away.