Last night was the last night of my class and since group presentations take various amounts of time we actually were out a bit early. Because of that I was almost home about 9:45 p.m. Ready to turn onto the street just before mine, I noticed a boy of about 8 or 9 crossing the street carrying his shoes. I was on the phone with my sister and told her that it seemed bizarre. It was too late on a school night for a child that age to be walking alone, and even though it was warm for October 21 it was too weird to be walking barefoot. I got off the phone, turned around and watched him for a minute while waiting at the intersection. A sheriff’s car drove by so I hoped the officer would see him as he had walked out onto the street and back onto the grass a couple of times. The officer drove by him.
I turned and saw the boy had crossed the street which is the second major thoroughfare of town—four lanes of undivided street with fast moving cars and semis. I drove a bit quickly to the sheriff’s satellite office about three blocks away hoping the officer was headed there.
I didn’t see a car at city hall so I called 911. Right away I said I didn’t think it was an emergency so if they needed to patch me to a non-emergency dispatch and tried to quickly explain the situation—what I had seen and where it was. She began asking very specific questions about where I saw the boy, which direction he was walking, which side of the road, etc. When I said that an officer had driven by the boy she said all the officers were on another call, but then she told me to hold and went to another line.
I turned around to see if I could still find the boy. The dispatcher came back on and said that they were looking for a boy in the area. She asked his race, hair color, etc. and wondered if I could still see him. By now he had turned down a side street. I told her I saw him and he was wearing a dark sweatshirt and maybe camouflage pants. I asked her what to do, do you want me to stop? She never really would say except don’t scare him. Because she was slow to answer and I was driving slowly wondering what to do I decided to drive by him to not be slowly following him and then scare him. I told the dispatcher I had driven by him and should I turn around. Yes, turn around.
Just before I got to him, an officer with lights off pulled up to the boy. Within five seconds two more cars pulled up. I had pulled over and thanked the officers for getting there quickly that I had called 911.
The officer wanted my license plate number to know who he was talking with and who had made the call. I was a bit afraid it was for that U-turn in the street I had made about a minute earlier.
I told both the dispatcher and the officer that I wasn’t sure about calling 911 that it seemed a bit extreme and chances were it was a neighborhood kid who had just stayed out too late and was going home.
Both thanked me for calling 911. The officer said, “We’ve been looking for this kid since 5:30 and he had threatened to kill himself.”
3 comments:
Ooooh, sounds like you did just the right thing. That's the word on safety, keep your eyes and ears open and listen to your instincts. How sad that a child that age is thinking of suicide.
Good job of reacting properly to what definitely appeared to be a strange situation. More people should get involved like this. I was sure hoping that your written account did not end up saying that you were ticketed for making a U-turn. That would have been unreal!!!
Rhoda - thanks for sharing that story. Yesterday morning Tim and I prayed that we would be intent on listening to the Spirit and not miss opportunities He may be giving us to do His work. You must have been praying the same thing. I'd say the Spirit used you in a profound way. You may have saved that boy's life.
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