Milford woman charged after toddler found alone outside

MILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- A family in Milford is very lucky that nothing bad happened and that a Good Samaritan stopped to help but police say this should be a wake-up call to parents.

It was on Plains Road in Milford just before 8 Wednesday morning that the driver came across a toddler pushing a toy lawnmower down the middle of the street. He was in a t-shirt and short but with no shoes and no adult.

News 8 went to the mother's home. No one came to the door but the next door neighbor tells News 8 he often sees the little child with his mom walking by.

"I've seen him go walking by here, he's in the stroller and they push him around and stuff, you know," neighbor Walter Goad said.

But he says, he's never seen the child alone.

"I'm very shocked to hear that, I'm surprised, it's not something I would expect," Goad said.

The driver who found the toddler tried to find the mother but couldn't get an answer at the house and then called police. 

News 8 is told, they, too, had trouble locating the mother but when she came to the door it appeared she had just woken up. She was not aware the child had wandered off but police say, the toddler had been left unattended outside for 30 minutes but hadn't gone far.

The mother, 20-year-old Nichole Phelan has now been arrested. News 8 found the grandmother with the child outside the home today.

"Excuse me, ma'am," News 8's Annie Rourke said.

"I'm not interested, there's a baby involved," the grandmother said.

She did not want to talk to News 8 but the neighbor says he believes the child is usually well taken care of.

"As far as I know, I'd say, yeah, he looks alright, he looks fine," Goad said.