GUILDERLAND — After a young girl wandered away from her house and tried to cross busy Western Avenue, her father was arrested for not watching her. The girl was not hurt.

Larry Reed, 42, who lives at the Governor’s Inn in Guilderland, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

His wife, Tracy Reed, told The Enterprise this week that she disagrees with the arrest. She said her husband took his eyes off of their four-year-old daughter for a few minutes, while he used the bathroom, and she was gone.
"It was not intentional," Tracy Reed said. "It was a really bad accident. I strongly feel that giving him a ticket was wrong. He didn’t open the door and say, ‘Go Tammy.’"

She and her husband have put new locks on all of the doors in their apartment since the incident, Tracy Reed said.

Guilderland Police Chief James Murley said that, at about 9:50 Friday morning, a woman was walking down Western Avenue, near the Governor’s Inn, and saw Reed’s daughter, trying to cross the four-lane highway.

Drivers were swerving around the girl and blaring their horns, but no one stopped, Murley said. The girl then stepped out into traffic and the woman stopped her, he said.

The woman took Reed’s daughter to nearby Twinkling Stars Nursery School, thinking she was a student there, Murley said. She was not from the school and a worker there called 911, he said.

Meanwhile, Larry Reed discovered his daughter was missing, his wife said. Their daughter was watching cartoons before he went to the bathroom and, when he came out, she was gone, Tracy Reed said.
Asked why her daughter left the apartment, Reed said, "She doesn’t talk very good. I’m not sure she understands what she did was wrong.
"I was at work and he was devastated because he couldn’t find her," Tracy Reed said. "He came outside and, when he didn’t see her there, he immediately called 911."

Police then determined that the missing girl was Larry Reed’s daughter and Reed was arrested.
"I don’t think giving him a ticket was right," Tracy Reed told The Enterprise. "It was just a bad thing that happened. Now we’ve taken a lot of precautions; we have locks on the doors."

The arresting officer was involved in a grand-jury hearing and could not be reached for a response this week, but, Lieutenant Curtis Cox said, in general, officers decide to arrest based on specific circumstances and the totality of an incident.
"The officer made his decision, based on what was presented to him," Cox said. But, he said, since the officer was not available, he can’t comment on the specifics of Reed’s case.

Reed is scheduled to appear in Guilderland Town Court on June 30.