Toddler saved from wandering onto Arlington Expressway

Woman spots 2-year-old near highway; father charged with neglect

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A lost and wandering Jacksonville toddler is alive thanks to a good Samaritan who grabbed him just seconds before he ran onto a dark and rainy Arlington Expressway.

Jacksonville police have charged the boy's father, Murry Gatling (pictured below), with child neglect.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Murry Gatling

Officials said the boy, whose name has not been released, is in good condition and is now in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

Jennifer Phillips, a mother herself, said the incident was what parents' nightmares are made of. She said she is still shaken up after the saving the boy around 9 p.m. Thursday in front of Jacksonville's Regency Inn on Arlington Expressway. She said she thanks God she was in the right place at the right time.

"I darted. I ran as fast as I could," Phillips said. "I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life, and I grabbed him."

Police said that after Phillips found the child in a roadway, scared and alone, she comforted him for more than 30 minutes, and still, no one came looking for him.

"Just the thought of somebody not paying attention to their child, not even know they were missing, to me, it's mindboggling," Phillips said. "It's crazy to me."

Witnesses said the toddler wandered by himself in the dark down a hallway and two flights of stairs, across a courtyard and then found his way across a parking lot, where Phillips scooped him up on an access road just steps away from busy Arlington Expressway.

"The baby could have died. He could have gotten ran over," witness Cindy Matthews said.

The Regency Inn confirmed the boy's family had been kicked out two days before, and Matthews said they had nowhere to go, so she let the boy and his father stay in her room so the boy could sleep. The boy's mother was working nearby and was not present.

But Matthews said Gatling passed out instead and lost track of his son.

"He was sleeping, and I was like, 'Where's your baby?' And he was like, 'What? I don't know where my baby is,'" Matthews said.

She said that moments later, police were at the door, and Gatling ran into a shower to hide, but police quickly found and arrested him.

Gatling has an extensive police record that includes drug, burglary, theft and domestic violence charges. He faced his newest charge of child neglect Friday afternoon in court and was given a $25,000 bond and ordered to not have any unsupervised visits with his son.

Phillips said she can't get the toddler out of her mind.

"He was so sweet. He just held me. We talked. We played. He's a well-behaved 2-year-old," Phillips said. "When I grabbed him, I asked him what he was doing. He said he was looking for his daddy."