The toddler has been identified as Royal Prince Simmons whose father reportedly lives next door.
Warning: Distressing content.
A woman in Texas has been caught on surveillance cameras abandoning a toddler on a stranger's doorstep.
However, the father of the boy said the woman was a friend who dropped off the child at the wrong house.
The woman was seen on October 17 at around 8.20pm approaching the home in Spring, Texas.
She was trailing the 2-year-old boy, who has since been identified as Royal Prince Simmons, along in one hand, dragging him along the drive, and had a monkey-shaped backpack in the other, the Daily Mail reports.
The video shows her approaching the door quickly and dumping the boy and his belongings down.
She then rang the doorbell, knocked on the door and sprinted away, leaving the little boy standing clueless in front of the door.
She hopped back into the white car she was filmed arriving in and drove away.
When the homeowner answered, the little boy was staring blankly at her with his belongings by his side.
The woman took him inside and called police who then reviewed her surveillance camera footage.
Afterwards, the boy was taken into protective custody but within several hours, tips from the public identified him.
The boy's father, who identified the 2-year-old boy, told KPRC2's that their friend Taisha Walker dropped his son off at a neighbour's home instead of his house.
Lieutenant Scott Spencer, of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said the boy's father was told by the mother via text that the child would be dropped off at his house on Wednesday afternoon.
Spencer said the child was not dropped off as planned as the mother was admitted to hospital, therefore she arranged a friend to drop the boy off at his father's house.
However, she left him at the neighbour's house by mistake. When the child did not turn up at the father's house he assumed the mother changed her mind.
Spencer said deputies searched through the neighbourhood when the child was found on Wednesday night, but no one answered the door at the father's house.
The woman in the video has been identified and detectives plan to interview her. She could face a charge of child abandonment, Spencer said.
"Had she waited just seven seconds, the home owner would have opened the door and maybe would've started a conversation, dialogue to direct her to the correct house to drop the child off," Spencer said.
The boy is now in good spirits and has been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Officials at CPS are working to reunite the child with his family.
- additional reporting Daily Mail.
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