Randy Wimbley at WXYZ-TV Detroit reported a case that feels almost impossible to process in real time: a 13-month-old boy was found alive after spending nearly two days trapped inside a locked, impounded vehicle at an Eastpointe tow lot, and now his father is facing a felony child abuse charge.
The story starts with what Wimbley described as a “head-scratching” chain of events, because the car wasn’t just sitting somewhere unnoticed – it was towed by police, moved to a lot, and sat there long enough that the child was inside from Thursday night until Saturday afternoon, according to investigators cited in the report.
And while the father’s decision is now the center of a criminal case, Wimbley’s report made it clear there’s a second argument running underneath it: whether the response by Harper Woods police was thorough enough before the car was ordered to a tow yard.
The Charge, The Timeline, And A Child Found Crying In A Locked Car
Wimbley said Orlander Linson Jr. is charged with second-degree child abuse, accused of leaving his toddler in an illegally parked vehicle in Harper Woods last Thursday night. The vehicle was then impounded the next day and taken to an Eastpointe tow lot, turning a routine tow into something far more serious once everyone realized the child had never been removed.
Investigators told the court the toddler was inside the car from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon. When officers finally located him at the tow lot, Wimbley reported they found the boy crying and pinned between a car seat and the passenger door, which suggests he wasn’t just sitting upright and visible in the back seat the way people might imagine when they hear “child left in a car.”…