INDIANAPOLIS -- A man was arrested early Tuesday morning after he called 911 to report his tractor-trailer had been stolen with his 5-year-old son inside while he was in a strip club on Indianapolis' near-south side, police said.

Donald Crawford, 39, of Franklin, was arrested on charges of child neglect and public intoxication.

Slideshow: Police: Man Reported Child, Truck Gone After Strip Club Visit

The truck had not been stolen, but Crawford was too intoxicated to find it, police said.

"As we started looking around the establishment … they find his truck right where he'd parked it," said Indianapolis police Sgt. Matt Mount.

In a four-minute call with 911 at about 1 a.m., Crawford's speech was slurred as he tried to tell a dispatcher where he was.

"I need to report a stolen vehicle and a lost child," Crawford said. "He was in the vehicle when it was tooken (sic)."

Crawford admitted to the dispatcher that he had left the child inside while he went into the strip club, Sassy Kat's Showclub, in the 1500 block of South East Street.

"I'm on East Street, up by the strip club there," the man said. "The problem is I've got a 5-year-old boy in that truck."

When police arrived, they found the boy watching cartoons inside the truck, which had been left unlocked with the keys in the ignition.

"He was sleeping," Crawford told the dispatcher when she inquired about why he left the boy in the truck.

A bartender at the strip club told police Crawford had been drinking there for about 45 minutes.

"It's almost a comical chain of events that goes on here. This guy ends up calling the police so that he can be arrested because he's too drunk to know any better," Mount said. "His truck isn't stolen. The little boy's safe, but it could have been disastrous."

Crawford was taken to the Marion County Jail. His wife came from Franklin to take custody of the boy, and the truck was towed.