A 21-year-old quadriplegic man's mother is in the custody of Philadelphia Police Thursday, accused of leaving her disabled son in Philly's Cobbs Creek Park for five days with only a blanket and a Bible.
Police questioned Nyia Parler, 41, at Southwest Detectives, Thursday morning as her 21-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy, stays with family members.
Investigators said they plan to charge Parler with attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and neglect of a care-dependent person.
The woman had been in Maryland since April 6 -- the day she took a bus from Philly to visit her boyfriend, officials said.
Her son, who is "non-verbal" and completely dependent on others for his care, was found in a wooded area about 100 yards from Cobbs Creek Parkway more than four days after Parler left town, officials said.
Authorities said he could have been abandoned as early as the night of April 5 -- spending several days and nights on the ground as temperatures reached lows in the 30s. Police said his wheelchair was about 10-feet away from him.
Detectives tracked down Parler in Maryland soon after the man was discovered. They issued a warrant for her arrest, but they were unable to bring her in as she dealt with an undisclosed illness in a Maryland hospital, police said.
After she recovered, Maryland authorities took Parler into custody Monday and the woman waived her extradition to Philadelphia the next day.
An attorney for Parler declined to comment.
