A man who fled deputies in freezing weather with a small child in his arms is charged with child endangerment.

The man, Gary Lee Lankford, 44, is charged with reckless endangerment of a child for the incident that happened when deputy Brystol Davis showed up at his home on Salem Road to arrest him on a violation of probation warrant.

“I saw a man running from the residence with a child in his arms,” the deputy reported, noting he yelled for him to stop. “He did stop at the fence with the child in his hand.”

The deputy then gave the child to its mother. Davis noticed the child was not dressed to be out in such frigid weather.

“The child did not have on a coat or shoes when he had run with the child in 14-degree weather,” the deputy said.

It was not revealed why Lankford decided to take the child as he ran from the law.