The Blue Knob Ski Resort in Bedford County, Pennsylvania (WTAJ/YouTube).
A mother and father in Pennsylvania are accused of allowing their 5-year-old son to ride a ski lift at a resort alone before he fell 20 feet from it and they were nowhere to be seen.
Maya Porter, 37, and Micah Porter, 34, stand charged with endangering the welfare of a child, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. They had their preliminary arraignment in court on Tuesday.
On March 1, the parents and their 5-year-old boy were at the Blue Knob Ski Resort in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The resort — which lies some 90 miles east of Pittsburgh — fashions itself as having "the highest skiable mountain in Pennsylvania."
The boy was riding the ski lift alone when he said he tried to adjust his ski goggles and twisted around, causing him to fall 20 feet onto the snowy ground below, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by area CBS affiliate WTAJ. Staff members of the resort rushed to the child's aid, but they apparently couldn't find the parents.
It reportedly took about 15 minutes for anyone to locate the Porter parents to let them know what had happened. When the mother and father were asked why their son was riding the cable system alone, they are said to have expressed how he was an experienced skier.
The Pennsylvania State Police also spoke with a ski lift operator, who claimed he saw Micah Porter ride the lift with his son, but the following time, the boy got on alone. The boy allegedly continued riding the lift several more times before a new operator took over shortly before the fall.
The mother said her son was a better skier than she was and so she told him to wait at the bottom of the slope for her, but when she got there, she couldn't find him. The father then reportedly heard someone asking for someone with his name and then learned about his son's fall.
The boy was brought to an area hospital and released. The parents told WTAJ that a helmet he was wearing saved his life.
Still, authorities were critical of the parents' actions. In the affidavit, police wrote, "The lack of direct supervision of a five year old child led to this child falling 20 feet from a ski lift to snow-covered ground. Furthermore, it took approximately 15 minutes to locate the child's parents, who were unaware of the incident at the time."
Maya and Micah Porter are expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on May 6. She is being held on $30,000 bond while he is being held on $50,000 bond.