Dad played Pokémon GO while toddler dangled from balcony

Every now and then a real-life superhero comes out of nowhere and captures the hearts of people around the world, and this is most certainly the case of Mamadou Gassama, the 22-year-old Malian man who has hit the headlines this week after scaling the front of a building in Paris in order to save a small child who was hanging on for dear life.

After the excitement around his bravery had subsided and Gassama had met with French President Emmanuel Macron (who gave him a medal and offered him French nationality and a role in the Paris Fire Department), it was only natural that people started asking a more pertinent question: where were the child's parents while he was busy dangling from an open window?

Well, it turns out the boy's father, who was supposed to be looking after him, had popped out to the shops. After making the potentially catastrophic mistake of leaving the window open he went out to source supplies but dallied on the way home in order to play some Pokémon GO. As well all know, you've gotta catch 'em all.

Let's hope it was worth it, as the boy's father now faces up to two years in jail for failing to properly look after his son. Luckily for him, Gassama was on hand to turn this into a heroic story instead of the tale of tragedy that it could easily have been.