Dad leaves kids in running vehicle while he goes to bar (Tempe, Arizona)

Dad MAURICE E. MORGAN has been arrested on child abuse charges after he left his three young children--ages 6 months, 3 years, and 4 years--in an unlocked running vehicle. So what was the big emergency? Guess Daddy really needed a cold one fast from the local watering hole.

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/tempe/story/PD-Dad-stops-at-Tempe-bar-leaves-3-kids-in/iKGzewt0lUSfFLn2d5pFpQ.cspx

PD: Dad stops at Tempe bar, leaves 3 kids in running vehicle

Last Update: 2:35 pm

TEMPE, AZ -- Police say a Phoenix man was arrested on child abuse charges after he left three children in a running vehicle while he went inside a Tempe bar.

Tempe police say officers responded to a call of three children left unattended in the vehicle outside Graham Central Station on S. Priest Drive Sunday around 6:30 p.m.

Officers found the children, ages six months, three years and four years, in the back seat of the vehicle unattended, unrestrained, with the doors unlocked.

The officer had the bar's management page the owner of the car.

Police say Maurice E. Morgan, 28, went outside and told the officer that he went into the bar with a friend and that his wife was coming to pick up the children. Police say they could confirm that.

Apparently the children had been left in the car between 30 and 60 minutes and Morgan never checked on them during that time.

Morgan was taken into custody and booked into the Tempe City Jail on three charges of child abuse.