BRANTFORD, Ont. — Hamilton police say it took about an hour of “communication” with a 37-year-old man before he surrendered and handed over his two-year-old daughter, bringing an end to a brief Amber Alert overnight.
Police in nearby Brantford, Ont., issued the alert early Thursday saying the girl and her father were last seen just after midnight leaving Brantford in a vehicle with two women.
A statement from Brantford police said they received a call for an abduction and assault at the girl’s mother’s house, just before the Amber Alert was issued just after 3 a.m.
The statement said the mother answered the door for an unknown number of people, while the estranged father broke in through the back door of the house.
Brantford police said the man allegedly assaulted and threatened the mother and assaulted another resident in the house before grabbing the two-year-old and fleeing the scene in a vehicle with three others.
Brantford police said they made contact with the father, but he refused to return the child or disclose his location.
Less than an hour later, the alert was cancelled after the girl was found safe.
Hamilton police spokesman Const. Jerome Stewart said his department received word from Brantford police that the child and father could be in Hamilton.
He said officers arrested three other adults in relation to the case at a traffic stop just after 2 a.m., then received a tip that the father and child were at a home in the Central Mountain area.
Hamilton police officers went to the residence just before 3 a.m., and about an hour later they emerged from the house with the child unharmed.
“Just having communication to make sure that everything transpired smoothly,” Stewart said in an interview, noting there was never any risk to public safety.
“That’s all it was — negotiation, if you will.”
Stewart said the child was turned over to other family members, and the four people arrested were turned over to Brantford police.