When you’re in the throes parenting a newborn, things like hygiene, self-care, and appearance tend to drop way down on the priority list. Sometimes they fall off the list altogether. Showers because rare. Sweatpants and ragged, baggy t-shirts become the norm. You often leave the house without even looking in a mirror. And the bags under your eyes grow dark and sever.
A California dad of four knows this dance of exhaustion all too well, but he never expected that looking like a tired parent would result in having the police called on him.
That’s right, someone called the police on him for looking as if he rolled out of bed and grabbed the closest clothes he could find.
Chapman Hamborg was taking his newborn for a walk when one of his neighbors called the police on him reporting that he was a homeless man that had stolen a baby. The dad recorded the unbelievable interaction with the police who thought they had a kidnapping situation on their hands only to find out it was all a misunderstanding.
Hamborg uploaded the video to his social media platform where it has been viewed over 66 million times.
In the video, you see the exhausted dad trying to laugh off the situation as he explains to his wife, “Someone called the cops on me thinking that I was homeless with a baby, so the cop needs to see my ID.”
His wife, who can be heard in the background, is in disbelief.
The caption of the video explains what happened in greater detail, reading, “I take our newborn daughter for walks around our neighborhood while wearing her in the baby carrier multiple times a day. I am surprised all of my neighbors haven’t seen me and recognize me by now. Well this lady thought I was homeless and had a (stollen?!) baby and she was concerned enough to call the police, and get in her car and follow me home. Apparently I need to work on my appearance—I guess being an artist or a tired dad isn’t a valid excuse.”
Since it was clearly a mistake, the police seem to apologize and leave Hamborg to continue caring for his newborn. People who viewed his video could relate to his exhausted look while others were confused on how the woman followed him to his home but still thought he was homeless.
“Honestly we all look homeless with a newborn, it’s called exhaustion.” one person writes.
“She clearly doesn’t understand homelessness if she followed you home,” another says.
“Since when is being homeless with a baby a crime? Homeless people have children,” someone else points out.
“Show me a parent with a newborn that DOESN’T look homeless…… I’ll wait”