A Toronto father will not face charges – after leaving his three-month-old baby in a car with the engine running – only to have the vehicle stolen in a daring daylight snatch –  triggering an amber alert.

Constable Allyson Douglas-Cook says the man was standing ” just a few feet away” from the vehicle –  when the suspect jumped in and drove off Sunday afternoon.

Douglas-Cook says investigators have determined the father hadn’t been negligent towards the child – who was discovered safe and sound – hours later.

She says it isn’t automatically a criminal offence to leave a child in a vehicle in Ontario – and police look at the circumstances of each individual case.

In Quebec, meanwhile, children aged seven or under cannot be left alone in a vehicle.

Toronto police are crediting a watchful member of the public for averting tragedy in Sunday’s case – when an employee of a nearby business – close to Dr. Flea’s Flea Market at Albion Road and Highway 27 – spotted the car in a parking lot.