Father abandons child on Pierce County freeway for being ‘loud and disruptive’

A 34-year-old man accused of abandoning his 4-year-old daughter on a Pierce County freeway was charged with felony child abandonment Monday.

Morgan Barnes was arrested on Saturday after witnesses spotted him remove his child from the backseat of his SUV on SR 512 near Pioneer Avenue in Puyallup.

Daughter abandoned on Pierce County freeway

Barnes left his child near the fog line between the shoulder and traffic lanes of the freeway because she was being “disruptive and loud,” according to court documents obtained by KING 5.

Washington State Patrol (WSP) Trooper Shannon McKenzie noted witnesses pulled over to prevent the child from entering the freeway lanes until law enforcement arrived.

“To come to a decision to leave your child on the side of a freeway … I can’t even wrap my head around that,” McKenzie told KING 5. “Maybe the child would have gotten hit by a car or abducted. There are so many different variables that could’ve happened to a young child on the side of 512.”

Witnesses told WSP that Barnes suddenly pulled over on the freeway, removed a young child from his vehicle, and drove away. The child told troopers that Barnes took her to a movie theater before she was abandoned on the roadside.

Barnes later returned to the scene and told WSP the child was being “disruptive and loud in the vehicle and was not listening to him,” and admitted to leaving his daughter on the freeway “as a form of discipline,” according to probable cause documents obtained by KING 5.

Barnes told authorities he was under stress caring for five children on his own while his wife is deployed with the Army.

The 4-year-old did not have any visible injuries following the incident and “was in good spirits” when WSP troopers made contact with her. Arrangements have been made for another family member to take custody of the child due to her mother’s current military deployment.

Barnes has been ordered by the court to have no contact with his daughter.

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