A parent from England received an unwelcome surprise when police knocked on his door and inquired if he was feeding his newborn son spicy hot sauce. The "investigation" was the result of a complaint filed about Paul Dawson after he posted about a light-hearted new dad fail on Facebook. But not everyone was laughing about his unintentional mix-up, and someone decided to report him to the authorities.
The drama started when Dawson shared on Facebook what happened when he and his girlfriend went out to dinner with their newborn baby.
Thirty-nine-year-old Dawson, his partner, Laurencia, and their son, Ben, who was born on New Year's Day, went out to a TGI Fridays restaurant to get a bite to eat together January 5, according to The Daily Mail. It was an honest Facebook post that got the new dad in real trouble.
The dad later explained that Laurencia "was breastfeeding Ben and I was eating hot wings. She was wanting to eat her food so asked if I could hold him while she ate.
"I'd wiped my hands on a napkin, as you do, and was holding him," he continued, but unfortunately, Ben "wasn't too happy at not feeding anymore so I put my knuckle in his mouth to try and pacify him — completely forgetting about what I'd eaten." That's right, poor Ben got a lick of hot sauce residue — oops!
"Ben made a funny face and that was that," he continued.
Dawson then took to Facebook to share humorous anecdote in a since-deleted post where he wrote, "Apparently 5-day-old babies don't like it when their dads put their fingers in their mouths after eating hot wings. Unintentionally by the way. Lol."
And that was that. Until police showed up at his door three days later.
According to the Cleveland Police Department, they received a call regarding the safety of baby Ben.
According to BBC News, a spokesperson for the police department said:
"Police received a call from a member of the public regarding concern for the welfare of a baby. As a result, two officers were deployed to speak with the parents to understand the circumstances of the report. Officers were satisfied that the baby was safe and well and there were no further inquiries carried out."
Dawson, however, told the Daily Mail that the incident was not as cut-and-dry.
"I opened the door and asked what was up," he said. "[The Police] replied 'You don't know then?' and I said I didn't have a clue."
"That's when they told me that I had apparently been feeding my son hot sauce," he continued. I just said, 'Are you taking the p*ss, mate?''" But unfortunately, this was not a joking issue. Laurencia then rushed to the door to try to explain to the police what had actually happened.
"My girlfriend then asked the officers if they'd even read the Facebook post," Dawson said. "They hadn't, so they were shown it and they just looked embarrassed. They apologized and admitted that they shouldn't have been called and then left."
But the scene was obviously traumatic for Dawson, who also said he was "actually quite tearful that someone had called the police."
Now, the dad is speaking out about the incident, saying that the mistake ruined his first days as a new father.
"I can't believe, with our stretched police force, they were sent out without looking into it properly," he continued. "It was absolutely disgusting, it just tarnished the whole Christmas season."
Although it hasn't been reported who notified the police, Dawson is trying to look past the negative situation and keep the humor up. He even shared a new bib that a friend gave him for his spicy little guy that reads, "It's a little chilli." In a status update from Friday, he posted a photo of the bib and thanked his friend for "this very apt baby bib for my son Ben!"
