Texas parents gave cops mind-boggling excuse for why they left 6-month-old alone on the beach

The parents who left their infant alone on a Florida beach thought it wouldn’t be a problem because the baby usually napped around the time they allegedly walked off for over an hour.

Brian Wilks and his high flying healthcare exec wife Sara Sommers Wilks, of Texas, gave the stunning explanation to police waiting with their child when they returned to her around noon on October 10 — nearly an hour after they allegedly left the baby girl alone while they went for a walk down Miramar Beach with their three older kids.

“Mr. Wilks stated that the infant usually naps during this time and was asleep when they left the infant in the tent unattended,” an arrest report from the Walton County Sheriff’s Office obtained by The Post read.

“The defendant stated that they lost track of time and did not realize how long they had been gone,” the report added, noting the parents left with their kids around 11:10 a.m., and did not return until around 12:06 p.m.

Witnesses watched the parents walk off down the beach with their three older kids in tow — with Wilks telling investigators the older kids had “run off” first, and they chased after them and carried on for a walk together while their baby was bedded down to sleep.

When bystanders realized a baby had been left alone under the tent – with its parents nowhere in sight for some time — they flagged down a security guard from a nearby hotel and the police were called.

Good Samaritans scooped up the baby girl and tended to her while they waited for police or the parents to arrive – with Wilks and Sommers, 40 and 37, being arrested when they came walking back. The baby was found to be healthy and unharmed.

They were charged with neglect without great bodily harm and spent a night in jail before posting $1,000 bail, while their four kids were held by child services until a relative picked them up.

But some people questioned whether the law enforcement response and charges were over the top – with some commenters on a sheriff’s office Facebook post about the arrest saying that only a few decades ago their parents would have done the same with them.

“In today’s society, this is crazy. In the 80s, people would have said ‘Well it was sleeping. It didn’t miss anything,’” one person wrote. “In Florida we would say something like ‘We put a blanket on him to keep away the seagulls.’ When I was 4 and my mom stuck me on a plane alone from Fl- St. Louis. Just a kiss and some crayons!”

“I don’t think they meant to be neglectful. I can easily see how this would happen on the beach with a napping little one,” another wrote. “I don’t know why one parent didn’t stay closer by, but I am also not a fan of the law intervening on families.”

“If the baby had been harmed or hurt, then the story may be different, but if baby was OK, I think the law should’ve stayed out of it,” they added.

Still, others thought leaving an infant unattended on a public beach was unacceptable – no matter what year it is.

“As a mother, this blows my mind I can’t even use the bathroom without freaking out without having eyes on my daughter. That poor baby,” one person wrote