The father of the young boy who nearly fell to his death from a fourth-floor Paris balcony has been arrested after leaving his apartment to play Pokémon Go.
Chief Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told the BFM television network that the father has been charged with "failure to meet parental obligations" after footage of the near-fatality went viral.
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On Saturday evening (local time), 22-year-old illegal immigrant Mamoudou Gassama was walking through Paris when he heard people shouting. He looked up to see a four-year-old boy dangling off the side of the apartment - and sprang into action.
Video shows him clambering quickly up the side of the building, pulling himself from balcony to balcony. Within a matter of moments Mr Gassama reached the child, grabbing him by one arm and hauling him to safety.
Since then he's received the nickname 'Spiderman' for his heroic actions. But authorities have been less than impressed with the father of the boy for leaving the child alone.
After being arrested he told police he had left his son alone to go shopping and returned home later than planned because he was playing Pokémon Go, an enhanced reality game, on his smartphone.
"The father left the apartment [to go] shopping and then decided to play Pokémon Go in the street which took a little time before he returned home," Mr Molins said.
He will appear in court in September and faces a penalty of up to two years imprisonment.
But there is a happy side to the story. France will offer residence papers to Mr Gassama, along with a job in the emergency services.
"We'll obviously be setting all your papers straight and if you wish it, we will start the process of naturalisation so that you can become French," President Emmanuel Macron told him.
"What you have done corresponds with what firefighters do; if this fits your wishes, you could join the firefighters' corps so that you can do [such acts] on a daily basis."
Newshub.
