A witness called 911 to report a young girl with a backpack and dog wandering in a busy intersection Wednesday night in Santa Clarita.
The girl, 6 years old, and dog were seen alone at about 10 p.m. at Magic Mountain and McBean parkways, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
““She was just wearing a diaper and a shirt and a backpack and she had her little dog and her iPad,” the witness said. “It was late at night and it’s a little girl wandering by herself.”
Deputies responded to get the girl out of the intersection, which often sees heavy night-time traffic. The girl was released by deputies to her father.
Video showed a deputy holding the small dog at a nearby shopping center.
The 28-year-old woman, identified as the child’s mother, was arrested and booked on suspicion of cruelty to a child, authorities told NBCLA. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services has opened an investigation into the matter.