CHANDLER, Ariz. -- A Rural/Metro firefighter accused of exposing himself to a 3-year-old girl said he only urinated in front of her and that it was OK because he was sitting down, a probable cause statement says.

According to the statement, when the girls' mother wanted to leave an Oct. 21 party, she was unable to find her daughter.

The woman checked the entire house. When she knocked on the door of a locked bathroom near the game room, the statement said, a man replied that he was inside.

The woman continued on through the house, but came back to the game room, where she found her daughter outside the bathroom.

The girl told her mother she'd been inside the bathroom but said she couldn't tell her what happened, according to the statement.

When confronted by another party guest, Brian Hammerschmidt, 30, admitted he'd been in the bathroom with the girl, but said he was helping her use the toilet, the statement says.

Hammerschmidt later said the girl had followed him into the bathroom, but that it wasn't a big deal because he sits down to urinate, according to the statement.

Authorities interviewed the girl but said she wouldn't talk about the incident.

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies located Hammerschmidt on Wednesday and said he came in voluntarily to be interviewed.

When authorities him his rights, the statement says, Hammerschmidt began to cry and said he'd made a serious error in judgment by urinating in front of the girl, even though he was sitting down. Hammerschmidt said it was a bad idea but it "happened so fast," according to the statement.

Hammerschmidt was arrested on one count of indecent exposure.

He has been a Rural/Metro firefighter for four years.