SEATTLE – Seattle Police say a young mother apparently wanted to go to a nightclub so badly over the weekend that she left her 3-year-old son alone in the car.

During the middle of the night, the little boy managed to get out and was later found wandering around the Pioneer Square area.

Seattle Police say the frightened little boy was first spotted by a man who parked his car in a lot near Occidental Park late Saturday night. That man sensed that the child was lost and in a place he shouldn't be, so he took him to a nightclub across the street where security staff called police.

The boy was dressed in dark pants and a dark shirt making it even more difficult for him to be seen on the dark streets of Pioneer Square in the middle of the night.

The boy had no shoes on and police report that he was "shivering and cold."

At one point, he apparently pointed to his blanket in the back seat of his mother's car – a 2001 Volkswagen station wagon.

The only unlocked door was on the driver's side and that's probably how the boy got out.

Police say it certainly appears that the 25-year-old woman from Issaquah left her child behind so she could go have some fun.

It's not clear how long the boy was left alone, but about an hour after he was found, officers caught up with the mother when she came back outside.

By that time the boy had been taken to the West Precinct where a social worker intervened. The mother was not allowed to take her son home.

"She did not gain custody of the child. The child remains in protective custody at this time," said Renee Witt, Seattle Police.

Police say the boy was healthy and did not seem physically harmed.

His mother now faces a potential criminal charge ranging from a misdemeanor of leaving a child in a car unattended to a felony charge of reckless endangerment.