Father Runs Over Son

This undated booking photo provided by the Tri-County Regional Jail in Mechanicsburg, Ohio shows Natividad de Jesus Hernandez. The 30-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, has been charged with failure to exchange information after an accident after State Highway Patrol troopers say he drove away without talking to authorities about running over his 4-year-old son who had fallen out of their van Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013.

(AP Photo/Tri-County Regional Jail)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man who authorities say ran over his 4-year-old son with a van shouldn't be prosecuted for leaving the scene of the accident, his attorney said Monday, pointing to video that shows police arriving to help and then leaving him there alone.

Natividad de Jesus Hernandez is accused of driving away without talking to authorities after the Thursday accident in Union County northwest of Columbus.

Hernandez, 30, was arrested after showing up at a hospital where his son, Angel Gustbabo Hernandez, died after the accident earlier in the day.

A state patrol report says the boy fell out of the van, which then ran over him. It says he wasn't secured in the van.

A deputy sheriff who responded to the accident rode with the boy in an ambulance, and Hernandez was left alone on the roadside with other children he had with him, according to a video of the scene.

Hernandez was confused, unsure whether to wait, before finally leaving, attorney Scott Culbert said in a phone interview.

"It's as if the scene of the accident left Mr. Hernandez," Culbert said.

Things likely happened fast because authorities were concerned about the boy, he said.

Hernandez's $500,000 bond was continued Monday in Marysville Municipal Court. His next hearing is Jan. 6.

Authorities said Hernandez, who is from El Salvador, is in the U.S. illegally and was stealing from a construction site.

Culbert denied the theft allegation but wouldn't say what Hernandez was doing at a house where the accident happened.

The boy's body will be returned to his mother in Honduras, Culbert said.