Watch: Alleged shoplifter abandons son while fleeing security guard

Scott was at a Shoe Station in Mobile on Saturday with her 5-year-old son and a friend when she allegedly shoplifted a pair of shoes. In surveillance video obtained by WKRG in Mobile, a woman identified by police as Scott can be seen walking toward the door to leave the store, a young boy following her.

Suddenly, she looks to her left, apparently at a security guard coming toward her, and bolts out through the door, leaving the boy in the store. The boy attempts to run after his mother into the parking lot, at which time the guard, Earl Weathersby, grabs the boy by the shirt and lifts him off the ground to keep him from being struck by an oncoming vehicle.

Weathersby can be seen carrying the boy out of harm’s way.

"At that particular moment, I was concerned more about the welfare of that little boy," Weathersby told WKRG in an interview. "I just couldn't live with myself if that girl had gotten caught and the kid had gotten hit."

Scott ran to her car and fled the scene, leaving her son behind, police said. Her friend, who has not been identified, also fled.

A worker from the Alabama Department of Human Resources was called to the scene to take custody of the boy. Mobile police spokesman Donald Wallace told AL.com that the boy's grandmother, Angela Scott, also arrived at the scene, but that a preliminary investigation resulted in the boy being officially placed in DHR custody.

Angela Scott, 43, refused to leave the scene and was subsequently arrested and charged with failure to obey officers, Wallace said.

Debrina Scott remained at large until Wednesday, when she was arrested and booked into the Mobile County Jail. She has since been released, jail records show.

It was not immediately clear if her son remained in DHR custody.