A “tired” California dad out on a routine walk with his newborn baby had the police called on him by a concerned neighbor, who feared he had kidnapped the child.
Chapman Hamborg, 33, was walking around his neighborhood in Huntington Beach with his daughter Florence in a baby wrap carrier on April 22, as he had done multiple times before to give his wife a little break, according to his Instagram post.
Hamborg didn’t bother changing out of his baggy brown Patagonia jacket, stained jeans, or tattered slippers when he embarked on his brief walk in the residential area.
His shaggy-looking appearance led a “lady” to mistake him for a homeless man and call the cops on the father of four, believing he had stolen the newborn, and allegedly follow Hamborg to his home.
“I am surprised all of my neighbors haven’t seen me and recognize me by now,” he wrote.
Authorities later arrived at Hamborg’s home and questioned him over his daily walk, NBC Los Angeles reported.
“Were you going for a walk? Is this baby or something? Your neighbors saw you and thought you were homeless,” Hamborg recalled the officers asking him.
“Nope, not homeless. Just a tired dad.”
After his wife, Hannah, assured police he was the father, Hamborg said they all got a kick out of the mix-up.
Hamborg, who’s an artist and art teacher in Huntington Beach, shared the video on social media, racking up over 50 million views since late April.
The young dad didn’t stress too much over it and made light of the situation.
“Apparently I need to work on my appearance—I guess being an artist or a tired dad isn’t a valid excuse,” he wrote.
After the incident went viral, Hamborg told People that he never received an apology from the neighbor.
While he’s unsure who she is, he did say she was sitting in her car across from his house while he spoke to the officer.
“I would love to meet the neighbor who called the police – not to shame her, but to thank her for being vigilant,’ Hamborg said, showing an open-minded approach to the situation,” Hamborg said.
Following the viral attention he received, Hamborg posted a follow-up video in which he asked his older kids if they agreed that he looked homeless while wearing the same outfit from his original post to which they all agreed.
He also addressed some of the critics who attacked him over his appearance.
“Some comments a little mean, being like ‘Have some self-respect, how you walking out in public like that?’ Which my response is: when my baby is crying I am focused on comforting her and not what I look like,’” the young dad wrote.
However, Hamborg used the recognition he got from the incident to highlight the issue of homelessness.
The artist partnered with the United Way of Orange County, a nonprofit organization that works to end homelessness, to sell limited-edition prints of his new painting, he shared on Instagram in May.
The piece, called “Unseen Path,” is a painting of himself carrying two of his children. He donated 20% of the proceeds to help fight homelessness.
Hamborg said he would accept an apology from the neighbor who called the cops on him, but the ability to help make a change from the incident made it all worthwhile.
“I would like to use it as an opportunity to get to know my neighbor and to be thankful that she’s looking out for our kids or the neighborhood,” Hamborg told People.
“Rather than, you know, turning it into a divisive thing.”
Read the full article here
