Being accused of riding a horse while intoxicated is bad enough, but it's worse when you've got a 3-year-old child with you.
Especially when you don't know who the child is.
That's the dilemma facing Dennis Byers, 38, who was arrested for public intoxication and child endangerment Monday while riding a horse.
With him was a three-year-old boy whom he couldn't identify, according to TulsaWorld.com.
Byers met the boy's dad around 3 p.m. because he was looking for a horse for his son, Tulsa Police Spokesman Greg Smith told NewsOn6.com.
"The horse owner was going to ride over to the child's house and let the child ride with [Byers] with the father following," Smith said.
But when the father got a work-related phone call, he stopped following Byers and the boy.
Police got a call around 8 p.m. reporting an intoxicated man carrying a small child on a horse.
"He was trying to leave the child at various houses. He didn't know where the people were. He didn't know where the child belonged and obviously he wasn't properly supervising the child," Smith said, according to UPI.com.
When they found Byers on top of the horse with the boy, he allegedly had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, was unsteady on his feet and smelled of alcohol, KTUL-TV reported.
He allegedly told officers he had consumed alcoholic beverages at 4 and 5 p.m., Fox23.com reported.
Byers was arrested for public intoxication and child abuse and booked into the Tulsa County Jail on $50,100 bond. He also is on probation out of Missouri for child endangerment, NewsOn6.com reported.
The child was placed in a DHS shelter while authorities determine whether his home is safe. His father, Tim Smith, hopes to get him back soon.
"I guess I made a big mistake," he told KRJH-TV. "I love him with all my heart, all I was trying to do was make up for his [Christmas] presents and give him a horse."
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