The father of a 4-year-old boy who was rescued by an immigrant from dangling from a fifth-floor balcony in Paris had left the apartment and was playing Pokemon Go, the city’s chief prosecutor says.
Chief Paris prosecutor François Molins told the BFM television network that the father has been charged with "failure to meet parental obligations" after the boy was seen in videos dangling from the building before being rescued by Mamoudou Gassama, who climbed from balcony to balcony in an amazing demonstration of strength and agility.
Gassama has been dubbed "Spider-Man."
Videos of the 22-year-old Gassama's climb went viral and French President Emmanuel Macron said he would put the Mali immigrant on a fast track to citizenship. He also is being given a job as a firefighter.
“The father left the apartment (to go) shopping and then decided to play Pokemon Go in the street which took a little time before he returned home,” Molins said, adding that a window had been left open, which allowed the boy access to the balcony.
The father, who has not been named, has been told to appear in court in September and could face two years in jail.
The boy's mother was not home either, Molins said, because she was visiting France's Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean.
In the video, cheers broke out when the young migrant reached the dangling child and pulled him over the balcony before emergency services could arrive.
During Monday’s meeting with Macron, Gassama was presented a certificate and a gold medal for performing an act of courage and determination.
“I ran. I crossed the street to save him,” he told the president. “When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing.”
God “helped me,” too, he said. “Thank God I saved him.”
