NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – Newly-released body camera video shows police encountering children they say were abandoned at a Burger King in North Miami by their 69-year-old father.
According to an arrest report from the North Miami Police Department, the incident occurred Wednesday night at the Burger King located at 12790 NW Seventh Ave.
Police said the manager called police after noticing that two young kids were alone in the playground area with no adult present.
A responding officer said the children, ages 4 and 9, were found in a “dirty state.”
“He said, we ‘can stay there for 10 more minutes,’” a child is heard saying in the video.
They were given juice at the restaurant before their father, Yves Benjamin, returned, authorities confirmed.
According to police, Benjamin returned to the fast food restaurant at 8:05 p.m., and surveillance video showed he had left at 7:28 p.m.
He claimed he had asked a “random” adult there to watch his children, but each adult inside the restaurant confirmed they had not been approached by Benjamin, the report stated.
“You just never know who’s lurking around,” North Miami police Capt. Kessler Brooks said. “Leaving the kids unsupervised for any period of time is not a safe thing. We’ve seen all too often.”
According to the report, Benjamin “failed to provide necessary care, supervision, food, or water” for his kids during his absence.
“Anyone who thinks that they can leave a 9-year-old and a 5-year-old alone in a public setting, absolutely wrong, not even for a split second,” Brooks said. “Please don’t turn your back on your children. Anything could happen. Not everyone has the best of intentions out there.”
He was arrested on a child neglect charge.