A body-camera video from Daytona Beach, Florida, is circulating again showing deputies waking two parents who were found passed out on the beach while their two young children were nowhere to be found.
The incident happened on March 16, 2024, and involved a Georgia couple visiting Florida.
WATCH THE VIDEO
What Happened?
According to reports citing the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to Daytona Beach after receiving a report about two adults who appeared to be intoxicated and asleep on the beach.
When deputies arrived, they found Timothy Stephens, 27, and his fiancée, Alyssia Langley, 27, asleep near beach chairs, toys and alcoholic beverages.
Deputies repeatedly attempted to wake the couple.
When they eventually woke up, deputies began asking where their children were.
Stephens appeared unable to immediately tell deputies where the children were. At one point, he gestured toward the ocean while trying to locate them.
The Children Were Found Safe
The two children, ages 5 and 7, were eventually located at a nearby hotel.
According to authorities and multiple news reports, the children were swimming unsupervised in the hotel’s pool.
The children were found safe and appeared to be unharmed.
Authorities then took steps to ensure the children were cared for while the parents were being processed.
The Parents Were Arrested
Both Stephens and Langley were arrested on child-neglect charges.
Stephens also faced additional allegations connected with the incident.
While deputies were taking Stephens into custody, body-camera footage showed him attempting to run away.
He fell during the attempt and was taken to a hospital for evaluation before being booked into jail.
What the Viral Video Gets Wrong
The social-media video uses the dramatic description “Drunk Parents Wake Up to Missing Children.”
That wording can make it sound as though the children had disappeared or been abducted.
The documented incident was different.
The children were temporarily unaccounted for by their parents, but deputies eventually found them safe at a nearby hotel pool.
The incident therefore involved children being left unsupervised, rather than evidence that the children had been abducted.
A 2024 Incident Resurfacing Online
Although the footage may appear new because it is being reposted on social media, the underlying incident occurred in March 2024.
Multiple news organizations reported on the arrests at the time, and body-camera footage from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was released.
Both adults were later released after posting bond.
The case remains an example of how a short body-camera clip can be reposted years later with a more dramatic caption than the original reporting.
The most important confirmed detail is that the children were located safely — but they had been left unsupervised while the adults were incapacitated on the beach.
