A New Mexico father wanted a night to himself, but Albuquerque police say that meant leaving his 20-month-old twin sons inside a locked car while he went dancing. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, 27-year-old Stephan Natseway told investigators he knew the children were in the vehicle but went inside the Dirty Bourbon Dance Hall & Saloon anyway.
Officers responded to the nightclub at approximately 1:34 a.m. after a security guard spotted two children alone in a vehicle and said they were sweating, according to the affidavit cited by Law&Crime. Security had already broken the driver’s-side window to reach the twins by the time police arrived, and Natseway eventually approached officers and identified himself as their father.
Natseway told police he had tried unsuccessfully to find family members to watch the boys before deciding he “wanted time for himself,” according to Law&Crime’s account of the affidavit. He also provided one particularly interesting explanation for why a presumably brief trip to the nightclub turned into the twins spending roughly two and a half hours inside the car: “people were dancing with him.”
Natseway was taken into custody and charged with two counts each of child abuse not resulting in great bodily harm, child abandonment not resulting in great bodily harm, and open child abuse, according to Law&Crime. Another man, Orry Morris, was initially arrested after police accused him of knowing the children were in the vehicle. However, the Santa Fe New Mexican later reported that prosecutors dropped his charges while the investigation continued.
Twins Were “Drenched With Sweat” When Officers Found Them
Image Credit: Google Maps
Natseway told investigators he arrived at Dirty Bourbon at approximately 10:30 p.m., while Law&Crime reports that nightclub employees actually scanned his identification at 10:54 p.m. Officers received the call concerning the children at approximately 1:33 a.m., leaving the twins unattended for around two and a half hours.
KOB reports that the boys were strapped into car seats with the vehicle’s windows rolled up, although the seats themselves were not properly secured to the car. Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos told KRQE that the children were extremely lethargic and initially appeared unconscious, but were breathing and began regaining consciousness once they were removed.
Gallegos also told KRQE that the boys’ clothes were drenched with sweat and that both children had soiled themselves, while body-camera footage obtained by KOB captured officers commenting on how soaked they were. One officer could be heard saying, “Oh, he is just soaked,” before another officer, removing the second child, responded, “My guy is too.”
Jail Records Detail Natseway’s Charges and Release
Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center records show Natseway was booked on August 29 at 4:49 a.m. under booking number 26-17760 and housed in the facility’s RHU. The jail record lists Albuquerque Police Department case T4FR202608308 and identifies the arrest location as 9800 Montgomery Boulevard NE, the same address where police responded to the children outside Dirty Bourbon.
The detention center lists three charges under the APD case: intentional child abuse without death or great bodily harm, abandonment of a child without death or great bodily harm, and abuse or endangerment of a child’s life or health. Jail records also show a separate preventative detention case was added on September 1.
The jail’s bail information shows a $0 amount and lists Natseway’s release type in the preventative detention case as “ROR-Rlse on Recognizance,” with a release date of September 2. That updates the earlier Law&Crime report stating Natseway was being held without bond as of Tuesday afternoon, so the detention center’s own record should be used for his latest custody status.
Police Say Dad Never Asked if His Children Were Ok
The children’s condition wasn’t the only thing that caught officers’ attention, as Gallegos told KRQE that Natseway never asked whether his sons were OK during his interaction with police. Body-camera footage obtained by KOB instead captured Natseway asking officers whether he was going to jail, with Gallegos telling KRQE that the father appeared more concerned about being in trouble than what had happened to his children.
Prosecutors argued that Natseway endangered the twins by leaving children incapable of caring for themselves alone inside a hot vehicle, according to court documents obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican. They also pointed out that even without considering the temperature, leaving the toddlers unattended created an opportunity for someone to kidnap them while their father was inside the nightclub.
Natseway was being held without bond at the Metro Detention Center as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Law&Crime. Whatever happens next in the case, “people were dancing with him” now sits alongside the much more serious accusations that two 20-month-old children spent hours sweating inside a locked car while their father enjoyed his night out.