When you’re in the throes of parenting a newborn, there’s not much room for glamour. You spend your days exhausted and looking like a haphazardly thrown together preschool art project because your nights are filled with feedings and diaper changes. Being able to take a shower feels like a spa day, especially if you have other small children who need your attention. A California dad of four knows this dance of exhaustion all too well, but he never expected that looking like a tired parent would result in having the police called on him.
That’s right, someone called the police on him for looking as if he rolled out of bed and grabbed the closet clothes he could find. Chapman Hamborg was taking his newborn for a walk in Huntington Beach when one of his neighbors called the police on him reporting that he was a homeless man that had stolen a baby. The dad recorded the unbelievable interaction with the police who thought they had a kidnapping situation on their hands only to find out it was all a misunderstanding.
How a neighborhood walk went viral
Hamborg uploaded the video to his social media platform where it has been viewed over 66 million times. In the video, you see the exhausted dad trying to laugh off the situation as he explains to his wife, “Someone called the cops on me thinking that I was homeless with a baby, so the cop needs to see my ID.” His wife, who can be heard in the background, is in disbelief.
The caption of the video explains what happened in greater detail, reading, “I take our newborn daughter for walks around our neighborhood while wearing her in the baby carrier multiple times a day. I am surprised all of my neighbors haven’t seen me and recognize me by now. Well this lady thought I was homeless and had a (stollen?!) baby and she was concerned enough to call the police, and get in her car and follow me home. Apparently I need to work on my appearance. I guess being an artist or a tired dad isn’t a valid excuse.”
Since it was clearly a mistake, the police seem to apologize and leave Hamborg to continue caring for his newborn. People who viewed his video could relate to his exhausted look while others were confused on how the woman followed him to his home but still thought he was homeless.
“Honestly we all look homeless with a newborn, it’s called exhaustion.” one person writes.
“She clearly doesn’t understand homelessness if she followed you home,” another says.
“Since when is being homeless with a baby a crime? Homeless people have children,” someone else points out.
How he turned it into a teachable moment
Instead of getting upset or letting the incident go as an innocent mistake, the artist is using it as a teachable moment for others. The art studio owner already had a picture he painted of him wearing one of his other children when they were an infant. That sparked the idea to use the painting titled Unseen Paths to help the homeless.
Hamborg contacted Orange County United Way and is working with the nonprofit to sell a limited edition of 80 prints of his painting, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to help unhoused people. They both hope to address the misconception of who experiences homelessness. The United Way told NBC Los Angeles that 371 families contacted the organization in April 2025 alone because they were already experiencing homelessness or were at imminent risk of it. The dad said he wants to teach his children to be compassionate toward people experiencing homelessness and hopes to one day meet the neighbor who called the police so he can thank her for being vigilant.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
