A child was found wandering alone near the Cook County forest on Tuesday night by a trio of good Samaritans, and now her father has been arrested outside of Illinois.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the 3-year-old girl, Aliyah, was crying and waving her arms up and down the sidewalks near North Milwaukee Avenue and East Palatine Road.
"They stopped to care for her. They saw this little girl crying, waving her arms. So they stayed with her until forest preserve police came and then our officers arrived," said Cara Smith of the Cook County Sheriff's Office in a press conference Wednesday.
"The family lives in Lake County and she was found in Northfield Township, so she was far away from any place she was familiar with," Smith added. "This child, thank God, was not hit by a car or wandered into the street. I mean very, very young to have stayed on the sidewalk when she was in such distress."
Police put out an alert for Aliyah's father after she was whisked to the hospital – where she was deemed unharmed – and the man was arrested and booked into the Van Buren County Jail, in Paw Paw, Michigan around midnight.
The Department of Children and Family Services have not had prior contact with the family, but are now investigating for child abuse or neglect. In the meantime, Aliyah has been placed with another relative.
"We're very, very lucky that we're talking as we are today, versus something that might have been much more tragic," Smith said.
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