I Feel Sorry for the Parents on This One
Child found in store at 3 a.m. playing with toys
What happened to the child after he broke into the store?
Both Articles, of course, were found on KFDM News, a local news station in Texas.
Child found in store at 3 a.m. playing with toys
Scott Lawrence & Jennifer Heathcock
December 15, 2008 - 10:21AM
The Beaumont Police Department has found the parent of a four year old child who was discovered alone in a store in the middle of the night, playing with toys.
The child was taken to Beaumont Police headquarters after he was found at about 3 a.m. Monday in the Family Dollar Store, 5370 College in Beaumont, according to Officer Randy Stevens.
"You can tell the child has been well cared for," Officer Stevens told KFDM News. "He was very talkative and was playing with the officers."
Police initially thought the child was two to three years old, but a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services tells KFDM News the child is four.
Authorities aren't releasing the child's name.
Officer Stevens tells KFDM News it appears the child unlocked the door of his home, which is only a few blocks from the store, and wandered away at about 3 a.m. Monday. The child had to cross seven lanes on College Street, which is also Highway 90, to get to the store, according to Ofc. Stevens. The highway can be extremely busy during the day.
Police say at about 11 a.m. Monday, detectives were again canvassing the surrounding area of the store and located the child's mother. She had been searching for the child in the neighborhood.
Child Protective Services allowed the family to voluntarily place the child, and a sibling, with family or friends while CPS investigates the circumstances of what happened, CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam told KFDM News.
Police say at 2:59 a.m. Monday, officers responded to an alarm at the Family Dollar Store, 5370 College Street. Officers arrived and began to check the building. They discovered that one of the two front doors was not secured. There was no sign of forced entry. Police went inside the store and found a young child playing with toys in the store.
Officers located a key holder, and the key holder was able to check the store video. It showed the child approaching the front doors at about 2:59 a.m.. The child tried one door that was locked. The child then went to the second door that apparently was left unsecured. The door opened and the child went inside.
The child was wearing black shorts with red trim and a white ribbed tank top.
Officer Crystal Holmes with the Beaumont Police Department tells KFDM News it's early in the investigation, but there's nothing to indicate the parents or family did anything wrong.
"According to family members, the child was thought to be in the bed with grandma," said Ofc. Holmes. "Grandma had gone to work before dawn and thought the child had moved to his mother's bed. The dad had worked the late shift so the family slept in late. When they woke up and discovered the child missing, they began the search."
She says the child was in excellent condition when police found him at the store and brought him back to their station in downtown Beaumont.
"He was having a great time and didn't know anything was wrong."
Holmes says this isn't the first time a child has unlocked a door and left home in the middle of the night.
"About 6 years ago a three year old boy in a diaper and shirt unlocked the door at about 4:30 a.m. and decided he needed french fries and was going to McDonald's."
Officer Holmes says parents can take precautions to try to prevent the same thing from happening in their home.
"A chain lock or slide bolt lock high on a door might not keep out the bad guys, but it will help prevent a child from getting out. A secondary lock on windows is also important."
Watch Live at 5 and KFDM News at 6 & 10 for more on the story.
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What happened to the child after he broke into the store?
Jennifer Heathcock
December 15, 2008 - 6:16PM
When police responded to a burglar alarm at about three this morning at a Family Dollar store, they didn't expect to find the culprit playing with toys.
Police say it appears family members of the four year old did nothing wrong, and were as surprised as police to learn the child had wandered away from home.
If police or relatives have any question about what happened next, they can find the answer on surveillance video.
"They checked the store and found a door unlocked, went inside to check for what they thought was a burglar," says Beaumont Police Officer Randy Stevens.
Police didn't find a burglar when they responded to an alarm at the Family Dollar store in the 5000 block of College Street, they discovered a 4-year-old boy, all alone inside the store.
"We're thinking the child came with family to the store and knew the toys were here," says Officer Stevens.
The child had to travel more than a block from his home on Chamberlin Drive to get to the store.
And cross 7 lanes of traffic at 3 A.M., just to reach the door.
That's where video from a surveillance camera shows him opening an unlocked door, and walking right inside, past the cash register, to the toys.
"This 4 year old seems to be very smart, he was having a really great time at Family Dollar and the door was open, and that's good for that child," says Shari Pulliam with Child Protective Services.
"He seemed to be happy, wouldn't you be? Playing on the toy isle," says Officer Stevens.
Trucks, action figures, just about any toy a boy could want for Christmas, were all withiin his reach. But, police were more interested in finding his family.
"Started looking around the area to see if they could find parents, maybe looking for this child and weren't able to locate any," says Officer Stevens.
Police went back again and found the child's mother looking for him.
"He was very lucky and maybe we can say Saint Nick was looking out for him this time, but we need to make sure this doesn't happen again," says Pulliam.
Keeping him safe might mean getting a new lock, instead of a new toy for Christmas.
The family voluntarily placed the 4 year old boy and his brother with relatives while C.P.S. investigates.
Police say there have been several cases of children unlocking doors and getting out in the middle of the night.
Officer Crystal Holmes says about six years ago a three year old boy in a diaper and shirt left home in the middle of the night, decided he needed french fries, and was going to a McDonald's in Beaumont.
Officer Holmes says you can help keep your child safe inside your home by placing a chain lock or slide bolt high on the door, and by using a secondary lock on windows.
It might not keep out the bad guys, but it'll help keep your child inside.
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I really can't blame the parents here. Kids, especially of this one's age, have been known to be extremely smart and elusive. Just one half second of distraction could lead to a disaster, even by the most watchful of parents or guardians. I've seen where kids have figured out locks on doors and even worse, how to get to them. They'll use chairs, stepstools, or pile up books and boxes to make their way to the lock.
What it really comes down to is that the kids, troublemakers though they may be, are learning a very, very valuable lesson: Problem Solving. The lock poses a problem, a puzzle, they have to solve, and thier creative thinking kicks into gear as they try to figure it out. Once they do, they reap benefits such as what this kid did: playing with toys. Through this, the kid's intelligence level rises and thus he will be moving on to bigger puzzles. This is nature at it's finest and instincts at their most profound.
Although Problem Solving will be a skill that will empower them for the rest of their lives and should be encouraged, it might be a good idea to play "outsmart the kid." If it were me, I would actually look into a dead bolt system with a child-proof mechanism, and then teach the kid that he shouldn't be leaving in the middle of the night and tresspassing on others' property, even if it is just a store.
- Cougarmint.