An allegedly intoxicated Oklahoma man was arrested on Monday for riding a horse with a 3-year-old toddler and charged with child neglect and public intoxication.

When Dennis Carl Byers, 38, was stopped by Tulsa police he “had blood shot eyes, was unsteady on his feet and had slurred speech.”


Apparently Byers got the boy after meeting with a man who wanted to buy a horse for his son. "The horse owner was going to ride over to the child's house and let the child ride with him with the father following," Corporal Greg Smith told Tulsa's News On 6.

But the boy's father had to take a phone call and stopped following the horse. Nearly five hours later, Byers ended up drunk and on a horse with the child while the boy’s father was nowhere to be found.

"He was trying to leave the child at various houses," Smith said. "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."

Tips led detectives to a house where the boy’s father is believed to live.

"(He) didn't know where his child was for four or five hours, or who he was with, or how to get in touch with anyone. That seems a little dangerous for the child," Smith said.

The child was taken unharmed by the Department of Human Services and is being held while authorities determine if his home is safe.

Byers has a court appearance set for January 28.

[Tulsa World] [News On 6]