A southwest Iowa man is in custody after driving away with his biological child following a confrontation with the child’s mother and another man early this morning in Red Oak. Red Oak Police Chief Drew Powers says the call came in at about 12:30 this morning.

Cops determined 28-year-old Ricky Jason Ewart of Corning broke into a Red Oak home through the back door and assaulted the two adults inside — 22-year-old Marcella Austin and 18-year-old Tyler Sutton. Ewart then left the scene with his biological son, 17-month-old Brandon Austin. An Amber Alert went out and at three o’clock this morning Ewart was taken into custody by authorities from Taylor and Adams Counties.

The child was found, unharmed, and returned to his mother. Ewart is charged with child endangerment, two counts of assault and first degree burglary, plus he’s charged with violating an order that gave the baby’s mother, not him, custody. The child’s mother and the 18-year-old man who was in that house in Red Oak this morning were treated for injuries at the scene. Ewart apparently was injured, too, according to the police chief.

“Upon our department taking custody of Mr. Ewart, he was transported to the Montgomery County Hospital where he was treated for injuries he had received in the incident and then he was transported to the Montgomery County Jail,” Powers says. It doesn’t appear Ewart resisted arrest.

“We have no information that he was anything other than cooperative,” Powers says. “He was quite cooperative when our officers became involved and he hasn’t been a problem since.” The Red Oak police chief credits the Amber Alert system with letting neighboring law enforcement agencies know what was going on and helping to quickly resolve the situation.