Police Arrest US Couple Who Abandoned Infant to Play Pokemon Go

They have been charged for child endangerment and neglect.

A couple has been arrested in the US for abandoning their two-year-old son at home while they drove around playing Pokemon Go, the game that has gone viral globally.

Brent Daley, 27, and Brianne Daley, 25, left their 2-year-old boy at their San Tan Valley home in Arizona for 90 minutes in the scorching heat, without water, while they played Pokemon Go in surrounding neighbourhoods.

The couple was charged with child neglect and endangerment, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Police found the boy in the front yard at 10.30 pm on Thursday after a neighbour dialed 911 and told authorities she had found a child who appeared to have been abandoned.

He was found “screaming and crying (and) attempting to get into the residence,” the statement said, adding that the boy was barefoot, red-faced and filthy.

When the father of the abandoned boy was contacted, Daley allegedly answered and said, “Whatever”, before hanging up, officials were quoted as saying by NBC News.

The couple eventually returned and admitted to driving around the area, stopping at parks and elsewhere while playing Pokemon Go, they said.

The incident comes amid a surge in incidents of people getting into trouble while playing Pokemon Go.

Last month, a teenager was shot dead in Guatemala after being ambushed while playing the game with his cousin. Also, two Canadian teenaged brothers inadvertently crossed the US-Canada border while playing Pokemon Go, causing a rare international incident.