LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport man found to be driving on a suspended license was taken into custody for child endangerment.

George James Watchman, 49, was arrested on Tuesday morning, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday a Lakeport Police officer on patrol observed Watchman driving a Ford minivan in the area of N. Forbes Street and Clearlake Avenue, Rasmussen said. The officer was familiar with Watchman and knew that his driver's license was suspended.

Rasmussen said the officer followed Watchman in an effort to catch up to him to make an enforcement stop.

Watchman, who the officer believed to be attempting to elude police, began making quick and abrupt turns onto and off of side streets in the area, Rasmussen said.

The officer continued to attempt to catch up to Watchman and was able to get him to pull over in the 900 block of N. Main Street, according to Rasmussen.

Upon contacting Watchman in the driver's seat, Rasmussen said the officer found a 3-year-old boy, who was not visible to him before the stop, unrestrained in the front passenger seat.  

Based on the fact that the boy was in the front seat, not in a car seat, and because of Watchman’s driving, the officer believed that Watchman willfully endangered the boy by placing him in a situation that exposed him to injury, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said the officer arrested Watchman for child endangerment and driving on a suspended driver’s license, and transported him to the Lake County Jail, where bail was set at $5,000. Jail records indicated he later posted bail and was released.

Watchman was arrested by the Lakeport Police Department on March 1, 2011, for willful cruelty to a child, later was convicted of a felony for the charge and sentenced to probation, Rasmussen said.

This investigation is being forwarded to the Lake County District Attorney's Office for review in regards to the current charges and to the Lake County Probation Department regarding a probation violation charge, Rasmussen said.