MIAMI (WSVN) - The good Samaritan who found a young boy wandering down a dark street in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood said he did what anyone in his shoes would have likely done.
The discovery of the boy, believed to be around 6 years old, late Wednesday night led to the arrest of his mother, Annie Rivera.
7News cameras on Thursday captured Rivera, 30, as she was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade,
Arnett Johnson, who spotted the child roaming alone in a the dark, spoke with 7News Friday morning.
“I did what I had to do, you know what I’m saying? Anybody would have probably done the same thing,” he said
Johnson, who is homeless, said he was walking in Allapattah, where he typically sleeps, when he saw the boy all alone, just before midnight on Wednesday.
“So my mind told me, the only thing I could do is call the police,” he said.
City of Miami Police units responded to the area near Northwest Seventh Avenue and 17th Street shortly after.
According to the arrest report, when officers arrived, “The victim stated, ‘Mommy drop me off and left me.'”
“We’re talking about a 6-year-old that has, obviously, a learning problem, disabilities, that he shouldn’t have been out on the street to begin with,” said City of Miami Police Officer Michael Vega.
Police then broadcast the boy’s photo with hopes of tracking down his family. They eventually got a lead.
“The school where he attends called us and gave us that information,” said Vega.
Officers then headed to the mother’s home, which she shares with another family.
According to the arrest report, Rivera told police the child was tucked into bed on Wednesday night. She went to work the next day and came home hours later without checking on her son.
The report goes on to say that at one point, one of the children who lives at the home even asked where Rivera’s son was, to which the witness responded “she did not know and thought maybe the victim was at the godmother’s house.”
On Thursday morning, Rivera would get a call that her child had been found in the street.
Friday morning, Rivera stood before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
“You were arrested for child neglect,” said Glazer.
The judge ordered Rivera to only have supervised contact with her son.
“I’ll give her pretrial services, alternate bond $2,500,” said Glazer.
But before she left the bond court hearing, Rivera got some advice from Glazer.
“Right now, you got to get it together and figure out how your — It was inadequate supervision,” said Glazer.
Rivera will also have to attend a dependency hearing, as police attempt to determine how the boy ended up by himself.
As of Friday evening, the child is in the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Rivera bonded out of jail on Friday.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.