Cops: NY woman left son, 6, home alone to go on date

PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y.- A Long Island, N.Y. woman was arrested after police said she left her 6-year-old home alone overnight while she went on a date, reports CBS New York.

According to the station, neighbors in Port Jefferson called the police after they spotted the boy in pajamas, playing in the street.

"He didn't have the proper clothing on - you know, it looked like pajamas - and I think it was about 10:30 in the morning," neighbor Al DeMeo said, adding that it was a school day and the boy should have been in school.

DeMeo saw the child wander into the street and he ran to help as a Port Jefferson village constable pulled up, reports the station.

"A constable who makes a periodic survey of the neighborhood stopped to ask him, quite loud, 'What are you doing in the street little fellow?,'" DeMeo told CBS New York. "And he says, 'Well, I'm alone.'"

That set off alarms right away for Port Jefferson Village Constable James Murdocco.

"I asked him if he was all right. The first thing he said, he was hungry," Murdocco said. "So I knew something was wrong, at that point, especially his pajamas were still on."

Murdocco called police backup as the mystery began to unravel. Investigators said they found the child's mother - Melissa Weiner, 31 - about 20 miles away in Dix Hills with a male friend, reports the station.

Weiner reportedly told detectives that she thought her son would be fine for a few hours while she "hung out with a nice guy," and that she "accidentally must have fallen asleep."

Sixteen hours had passed by the time Weiner's son was spotted in the street, neighbors and police said.

"I said, 'How did you get out of the house?' He's only 6. And he said, 'I unlocked the door,'" DeMeo said. "With that I said, 'Why are the lights on in the living room?' (He said), 'You know, I put them on last night because it was dark.'"

Police described it as a tragedy waiting to happen. The child could have drowned in a swimming pool across the street, and he could have been hit by a car or even kidnapped, Murdocco said.

"It's just a sad situation, because anything could have happened," Murdocco said. "He's very, very small; he just turned 6."

Melissa Weiner has reportedly been issued a temporary order of protection to stay away from her son until her next court date. The child was with relatives as of late Monday afternoon.

Weiner was released from jail after posting $2,000 bond.