Deputy: Child found playing in street

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (WALA) - A Fort Walton Beach man who left a 17-month-old child in his home while he went to work has been charged with child neglect without great harm by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Elton Jerome Davis Jr., 24, was arrested May 12 after a woman found the toddler playing in a roadway with a dog. The deputy says the roadway is an active thoroughfare. The front door of the Davis home was found open but Davis was not inside.

Davis told the deputy he had placed the sleeping child on a couch, put Cheerio’s and orange juice nearby, and then left to go to work.