24-year-old Artasia Quantaya Viges was arrested this month and charged with cruelty to a juvenile, baby desertion, and false swearing for the aim of violating public well being or security, per Legislation & Crime.

Based on a press launch from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Workplace, they responded to name relating to a kidnapped baby on November 5, 2024, round 1am. On the time, per authorities, Viges claimed “people in an older mannequin truck had kidnapped her son as she was parked on the roadway attending to a deflated tire.”

The kid was situated “nearly instantly,” nonetheless, at a parking zone close by “with abrasion accidents to his knees.” The boy allegedly instructed officers his mom “ran him over” after which left him on the facet of the street.

Contemplating the “huge disparity” between the mom’s claims and her son’s model of occasions, Juvenile Detectives have been then referred to as in to analyze what occurred.

“A subsequent interview with Artasia Viges revealed the terrible fact; there was no kidnapping and a younger baby was left unattended alongside a significant roadway and allowed to run off within the evening,” the Sheriff wrote it its launch.

“What began as a disagreement between a mom and a toddler turned a weird response to the kid having a tantrum,” they claimed. “Because the mom pulled the automobile over, the kid, clearly not correctly restrained, bailed out of the automobile earlier than it got here to a cease, ensuing within the accidents to the kid’s knees.”

Authorities additionally say Viges then “selected to depart the kid out of the automobile, permitting him to run off in the dead of night, alongside main roadways.” The discharge states Viges “admitted” she did not attempt to chase after him and “in the end overpassed him,” resulting in her arrest.

She’s at present being held within the St. Landry Parish Jail on $200,000 bond, whereas the investigation stays ongoing.