Dad chases moving train after leaving baby on board so he could smoke cigarette

The father sprints after the train (right) as it leaves Windermere Station in Cleveland.

This is the heart-stopping moment a panicking father sprints after a moving train after he left his baby alone on board to smoke a cigarette.

CCTV footage from last month shows the man boarding the train with a baby in a basket, then leaving it on a seat while he stepped out to have a smoke at Rapid Transit train station in Cleveland, Ohio.

A concerned passenger watched over the baby until he realised the doors were closing.

The father places his baby on one of the seats as the train sits in the station waiting to depart.

The passenger then ran up to the doors to try to open them.

At the same time, the father is seen banging on the doors and then eventually running after the train as it takes off.

Another passenger alerted the driver, who quickly reversed the train and safely reunited the baby with its father at the station.

A passenger tries to open the doors to let the panicked father inside as the train starts moving.

The father was then accused of "menacing" the female train operator, according to her police statement.

However, the allegation was not backed up by a Regional Transit Authority (RTA) investigation, Cleveland 19 News reported.

RTA officials said neither the baby nor passengers were in any danger during the incident, but the driver was later "coached" for not following communication procedures.

The father sprints after the train (right) as it leaves Windermere Station in Cleveland.

Viewers on social media blamed the father for the incident.

"Is a cigarette that important?", one person asked.

Another said: "Why would you leave your baby by itself on a public train? What the hell?"

"Shaking my head. Unbelievable," another person agreed.