SLIDELL - A man was arrested after his 2-year-old was found wandering across a busy roadway in St. Tammany Parish.

Police say they first received reports of the endangered child around 8 p.m. Tuesday near a Days Inn motel in Slidell. A good Samaritan picked up the child wandering nearby on Tyler Drive with no pants or shoes and brought it to the hotel lobby.

Authorities searched for 45 minutes until they finally found the father, 42-year-old Nathaniel Burnette, passed out in a motel room. When asked about his child, he acknowledged the toddler was missing but had not realized it because he was asleep.

Police soon found Burnette was in possession of cocaine, which he admitted he was selling out of his hotel room along with marijuana. He was arrested and booked with child desertion, cruelty to juveniles and several drug charges.

The child was unharmed and has been turned over to another family member.