Cops: Shoplifting suspect fleeing store drops, abandons Down Syndrome child

ELIZABETHTON — A man suspected of shoplifting a pair of tennis shoes dropped a 5-year-old boy on a concrete floor and abandoned him at Walmart over the weekend while he was being pursued by security officers.

Jonathan L. Chapman, 29, 282 Spice Hollow Road, Lot 2, was arrested in the store’s parking lot on charges of child abuse and shoplifting. The child’s father, Thomas Wilson, said he had asked Chapman to watch the boy while he went to look for the child’s mother inside the store. Wilson said his son has Down Syndrome.

Elizabethton Police Officer Joe Holsclaw said he was dispatched to Walmart at 7 p.m. Friday on a call about a man throwing a child on the floor while running from loss prevention officer Scott Elliott.

Read the full story on the Johnson City Press Web site.