Inset: Kabamba E. Kyalangalilwa (Detroit Police Dept.). Background: The Michigan location where authorities say Kyalangalilwa crashed his motorcycle while intoxicated and riding with his 1-year-old child (Google Maps).
A Michigan father is accused of leaving his 1-year-old daughter with strangers for several hours while he attended a party, then returning drunk, putting the toddler on his motorcycle without securing her, crashing at high speed and running from the scene as the injured child remained behind.
Kabamba E. Kyalangalilwa, 35, faces two counts of child abuse, along with one count each of child abandonment, reckless driving, and operating while license suspended, revoked or denied, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said the case is tied to an incident that unfolded June 28 on Detroit’s west side.
Prosecutors allege Kyalangalilwa arrived with his daughter at a party on Braile Street at about 11:30 a.m. He then reportedly took the child to a nearby home, asked people he did not know if she could swim with their children, and left her there while he went back to the party, Detroit NBC affiliate WDIV reported.
Roughly five hours later, authorities say, Kyalangalilwa returned on a motorcycle while intoxicated. He allegedly picked up his daughter from the strangers’ home and placed her on the motorcycle without properly securing her, prosecutors said.
Investigators said he then accelerated away, lost control of the motorcycle and caused both himself and the toddler to slide across the street. The child hit her head on a curb and suffered cuts to her head, face and legs before she was taken to a local hospital for treatment, Detroit CBS affiliate WWJ reported.
Instead of staying with his injured daughter, Kyalangalilwa allegedly tried to leave in another vehicle, then abandoned it and ran away on foot, according to prosecutors.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said the allegations stand apart from nearly anything she has encountered during her career.
“I do not recall in all of my years as a prosecutor and judge ever seeing a set of facts like this,” Worthy said in a statement. “The alleged conduct of this defendant was way beyond atrocious and horrendous. This poor baby deserved the appropriate care, dedication, and simple human decency. It is miraculous that she is still among the living.”
Detroit police later asked the public to help locate Kyalangalilwa and urged him to surrender at a city precinct, according to WWJ. Child Protective Services also launched an investigation.
Kyalangalilwa was arraigned July 15 in Detroit’s 36th District Court, where a judge initially set bond at $100,000.
At a July 21 bond redetermination hearing, however, the court lowered his release conditions to a $25,000 personal bond while requiring him to wear a GPS tether and comply with a nightly curfew, court records show.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 20 for a preliminary examination.
The post Dad ditched 1-year-old with strangers to attend party for hours, picked baby up drunk on motorcycle and immediately crashed: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
