The father whose child was rescued from a Paris balcony Sunday had gone out shopping and was delayed in returning home because he started playing Pokemon Go on his smartphone, CNN reports.
He faces up to two years in prison for abandoning his parental responsibilities, French prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM TV.
"I think he understands what he did, the terrible consequences it could have had," Molin said.
Video footage of bystander Mamoudou Gassama rapidly scaling the façade of an apartment building to save the 4½-year-old boy hanging from a fifth-floor balcony turned the Malian migrant into a national hero.
Gassama, 22, was honored for his bravery by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and has been offered French citizenship and a job with the Paris fire brigade.
The father, a man in his 30s, will be sentenced in September, according to Bruno Badre, a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor. The boy had been placed in temporary care while the father was in custody, per CNN, but the two were reunited when he was released.
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