Woman Calls Police on ‘Homeless’ Man Walking His Newborn. Turns Out It’s Her Neighbor (Exclusive)

• Chapman Hamborg is an artist from Southern California
• With a newborn in the family, he often takes his daughter on walks around the neighborhood and admits to sometimes looking “disheveled”
• One morning, after his routine walk, a neighbor reported seeing a homeless man and a baby, resulting in the police showing up at his door

Chapman Hamborg is an artist and father of four, living and working in Huntington Beach, Calif. 

The 33-year-old is often found painting and sculpting in his backyard studio or surfing the waves near his home. His favorite pastime, however, is spending quality time with the family. 

Since welcoming a newborn only a month ago, Hamborg’s routine involves daily walks around the neighborhood in an attempt to soothe his daughter and give his wife some time to relax. However, he never expected to have the police called on him for looking “homeless.”

Hamborg and his family live in a quiet beachside neighborhood, on a street located between a middle and high school, leading to a good amount of foot traffic. One early morning, the artist was walking his newborn daughter, as he often does, on a route that passes by the street behind their house.

“She’s in her fussy newborn stage so I take her on lots of walks and I wear her in the baby carrier,” Hamborg tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I go out often in the middle of the night, like all times of the day and multiple times a day. It’s kind of like a routine to give my wife some rest.”

However, their routine was interrupted as Hamborg and his daughter were returning from their second walk of the morning on April 22, 2025. By then, the family was up, the kids were playing outside, and he started helping his wife, Hannah, clean up inside. 

It was his oldest son who pointed out the police car parked right in front of their house. At first, Hamborg wondered if someone had called the cops on his family, though he wasn’t sure why. He and the officer met halfway down his lawn and exchanged confused looks.

“He was very friendly and kind,” Hamborg explains. “So I wasn’t on guard…I already kind of had a hint that there must have been some sort of miscommunication.”

The officer revealed that someone had reported a homeless person with a baby and found their address after following Hamborg home. 

Hamborg, with his daughter still on his chest, was shocked and a bit embarrassed. The officer explained that a neighbor was concerned about what they saw and asked him to provide a form of identification. He immediately went inside to look for his wallet and to tell his wife what was happening. Hannah was in disbelief and decided to come outside for support. 

“I was like shaking and — you can hear it in my voice in the video — my voice is just like all over the place,” he recalls. “I’m in my own home. I’m in my own neighborhood with my own baby and it’s just wild that, that could happen… it’s kind of crazy.”

Nevertheless, after providing his ID, Hamborg, his wife and the officer are seen laughing off the situation in a viral video.

“I think it helped that he was just really friendly and really kind,” Hamborg admits. “If it had been someone that maybe was more suspicious and, you know, was a bit more aggressive and intense, for sure that would have been a different interaction.”

Hamborg’s dad was a firefighter, so growing up, he was taught to always be polite and cooperative with police. But after sharing the experience online, some people commented that if he were Black, the situation might have played out differently. 

Others pointed out the privilege in being able to laugh it off, making Hamborg realize how quickly people can be stereotyped. “It’s interesting to reflect on all that,” he says. “There’s so much of that in our culture right now.”

During his morning walk, Hamborg was wearing his Patagonia jacket, but looked quite unkempt with his hair pulled back in a loose bun, a hole in his slipper and clothes stained with paint. Oftentimes, he even walks around barefoot and admits he has never thought anything of it before. 

“I’m an artist and I have disheveled clothes and stuff. I’m confident in who I am and my style and, you know, I’ve never been to a barber. I cut my own hair,” he explains. “I have no problem with it. Like I choose to dress the way I do for a reason and I’m not going to change the way I look because of it.”

Although his children agreed to their father looking “homeless,” others were outraged over the whole situation. 

“It’s mostly weird cause she assumed you were homeless and then watched you walk into a home and still called the police,” one person commented. Another wrote: “Parenthood literally has us all looking unhoused and unkempt.”

Following the incident, Hamborg never received an apology from the neighbor who called the police. Though he is unsure of her identity, he noticed her sitting in her car across from his house while he was speaking to the officer. 

“So I’ve kind of seen her car…I recognize the car, so I can figure out which house it is. And I’ve gone on several walks back and forth since then, kind of hoping to see her and just be like, ‘Hey, I’m your neighbor and I’m not homeless,’ ” he shares. “Not to be mad or guilt trip or anything. Because like my wife even said, ‘Hey, at least we know our neighbors are looking out for our kids.’ ”

Although Hamborg admits an apology from his neighbor would have been nice, he is choosing to have a positive outlook on the situation and is thinking of sending the woman a letter, thanking her for being vigilant.  

“I would like to use it as an opportunity to get to know my neighbor and to be thankful that she’s looking out for our kids or the neighborhood,” Hamborg says. ”Rather than, you know, turning it into a divisive thing.”

Credit: dotdashmeredith.com