Friday, February 23, 2007

Kidnapped boy found

I was just at the hospital visiting my mother who broke her foot yesterday and happened to catch a segment of CNN describing an Amber alert. A thirteen year old boy in Florida was kidnapped at gunpoint at a bus stop with around 14 other kids present:

According Bristow, the kidnapper came out with a gun, and Clay happened to be the closest student to him. He ordered Clay to go with him. Other students starting running, screaming, hysterical and the kidnapper was able to get Clay into the truck.

Students at the scene say that Clay said “Sir, I don’t know you.”

One child described a heart-breaking scene:

“Everyone said when he got in the car, he was bawling his eyes out,” said Jonathan Fletcher, a friend and classmate of Clay's.

Bristow said it was probably the scariest situation the children had ever encountered.

Luckily, the suspect let the boy go, although he is still at large. However, I cannot imagine how relieved the boy's family must be that he was found alive.

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

National news reported extensively on a similar kidnapping here in the St. Louis area. Here, it was a suburban kidnapper, who drove to a rural area to do the crime. A whole city was on edge until, a few days later, police found him - and another child who had disappeared several years ago - in the kidnapper's suburban apartment.

As horrible as this crime is, not only the direct victims are damaged. A more broad, if less deep, impact is that all children are now raised in a much more restrictive environment. When I grew up, in the 70s, we roamed over a several mile radius, bicycling, skateboarding, and just having fun. Today, children suffer from the effects of a lack of exercise, and from isolation. Somehow, for our children, we must get beyond the current state of things on this matter.

Nick Kasoff
The Thug Report

2:57 PM, February 23, 2007  
Blogger DRJ said...

I'm glad this boy was found alive. Even if his "only" harm is psychological, it's disgusting that any adult would do this to a child.

I'm also very sorry to hear about your mother.

3:53 PM, February 23, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read the story and was appalled. The picture of Clay was the first shock. Identifying him as a teenage boy was the second shock.

From the blog entry I envisioned a group of early grade school kids. Ruuning, screaming and bawling are appropriate to five and six year olds.

Fourteen kids the size of Clay can take down any single man, gun or not. They are nearly men themselves. Instead they ran and bawled. Clay didn't fight for himself and the others didn't fight for Clay. Wasn't it obvious this was a life threatening situation?

Meanwhile, in other news, a 70 year old American tourist killed a 22 year old armed mugger in Costa Rica with his bare hands.

6:48 PM, February 23, 2007  
Blogger essaybee said...

"Ruuning, screaming and bawling are appropriate to five and six year olds."

Yes, I hope their parents scold them soundly for reacting with panic and fear to a sudden dangerous situation. NOT.

You really think running away and screaming is a wrong reaction for 12 and 13 year olds to have to the sudden appearance of a gunman? That's just bizarre.

8:31 PM, February 23, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why publicize this boys name and picture and further victimize him? He is found, no need to publicize his name and looks nationally.

Unless he goes on Oprah and asks for further media attention, have the decency to let him alone to deal with what he's been through. I'd hate to think you'd use kids like this for your own personal gain, to get hits on your blog.

I feel the same for children who are criminals too, but it seems especially sad to doubly victimize the child this way who did ask for you to publicize his ordeal to your own benefit.

10:07 PM, February 23, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I think nowadays, a lot of ppeople are being raised to bawl and cry if they get into a situation that doesnt go their way, forget a dangerous situation like the Florida boy was in today.
E.g: my housemate is a 25 yr old engineering graduate of the univ of michigan, who will begin a PhD program this fall. Today, an airport shuttle/limo service was supposed to pick him up. Said Limo/shuttle was probably a Hispanic illegal who barely spoke English and couldnt read street signs, so, he couldnt figure out directions, and was about an hour late, when my housemate came to me bawling and crying that eh was going to miss his flight. Dumb was totallu incapacitated by the situation, and couldnt even manage to get his act together to look in the phone book and call another shuttle/limo service. I had to call while he sobbed. If folks nowadays are being raised to eb anything like this25 yr old male, I can see why folks dont stand up to criminals, despit being in a dangerous and fearful situation.Compare the behavior to how the group of ex-military senior citizens attacked in Costa Rica responded. They killed the criminal wielding the gun and attacked the other accomplices, and chased them off.
A lot of baby boomers have raised their kids to be whiny, snivelling cowards.

10:55 PM, February 23, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Yes, I hope their parents scold them soundly for reacting with panic and fear to a sudden dangerous situation. NOT."

That statement doesn't contain anything useful. I hope their parents recognize that this is not and never will be an entirely safe world and take appropriate steps to world-proof their kids.

1:21 AM, February 24, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Yes, I hope their parents scold them soundly for reacting with panic and fear to a sudden dangerous situation. NOT."

I don't blame these kids. There are many different temperaments and people react to dangerous situations differently. That being said, panic never made any situation better.

Having been in any number of dangerous situations as a kid, I can say that not every kid panics. Granted none of them involved a gun, but several involved adults behaving badly. I certainly never abandoned my companions.

Amy K.

2:36 AM, February 24, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good for you, Amy. I wish there were more peoople like you. E.G: recently, an elderly man suffered some kind of a medical condition, and passed out in the parking lot of a pretty busy upscale shopping center. A lot of people walked by, some stopped and looked at him, but, everyone was too frightened to get involved. No one even called 911, and later on we found out that the poor gentleman had suffered a heart attack, and he passed away. If only one person had called 911 ( forget starting CPR), this man would possibly be alive today.
A whole lot of people were either too frightened, or lacked the compassion to come to a fellow human being's aid.

11:35 AM, February 24, 2007  
Blogger SGT Ted said...

Kitty Genovese

12:11 PM, February 24, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that some of the people who ignored that elderly man who had a heart attack might have been afraid they'd have been sued.

1:40 PM, February 24, 2007  
Blogger Helen said...

Ellen,

That is why we have Good Samaritan Laws in some jurisdictions so that if a person acts in a reasonable manner in trying to provide first aide etc. they will not be held liable. It is extremely rare that one would be held liable for trying to provide help to someone with a medical emergency.

1:55 PM, February 24, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have 4 kids. I have taught them since they were very young to run & scream when encountered & only to fight back when they are captured, by biting & kicking & scratching. A predator wants to get away fast & is not likely to do anything that would draw too much attention, such as fire a gun. I know from personal experience: When I was 8 months pregnant with my second child & living in Cleveland OH, I was approached by a carload of Cubans, (sorry for the stereo-type but it's the truth) while standing at a street corner waiting to cross, the man in the passenger side pointed a gun at my belly & told me to get in while one of the men in the backseat opened his door. It was 4 against 1 & I knew if I got in that car I'd never be seen or heard from again. I couldn't scream, as I had larengitis at the time, & at 8 mos pregos I certainly couldn't run, so I closed my eyes & waited for the shot. I figured I'd rather die clean than raped, tortured, mutilated & probably in labor in which my baby would probably die, too. They laughed & drove off. The 7-11 clerk on the corner form whom I'd just purchased my favorite candybar, came running out with a gun in his hand & said he'd called the police. They found the guys & deported them. It never made the news because the city council members were trying to avoid racial unrest because of the amount of illegal Cubans in the area causing alot of sexually motivated crimes. Four years before that, a 14 year old friend of mine was kidnapped from her paper route & raped, tortured & murdered by one of the Cuban prisoners Castro sent to our country as "refugees" when he cleaned out his prisons. (But I don't hate Cubans or anyone else. But I don't support legislature that allows illegal aliens to stay here without background checks, though.) The real point is, people need to teach their kids how to SURVIVE being a victim, the first step is not to become one. That boy was so very LUCKY, and believe me, it was only luck & a cool head that saved him, but people tell your kids to run, whomever calls a kid a coward for running is himself an idiot.

7:01 PM, February 25, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have 4 kids. I have taught them since they were very young to run & scream when encountered & only to fight back when they are captured, by biting & kicking & scratching. A predator wants to get away fast & is not likely to do anything that would draw too much attention, such as fire a gun. I know from personal experience: When I was 8 months pregnant with my second child & living in Cleveland OH, I was approached by a carload of Cubans, (sorry for the stereo-type but it's the truth) while standing at a street corner waiting to cross, the man in the passenger side pointed a gun at my belly & told me to get in while one of the men in the backseat opened his door. It was 4 against 1 & I knew if I got in that car I'd never be seen or heard from again. I couldn't scream, as I had larengitis at the time, & at 8 mos pregos I certainly couldn't run, so I closed my eyes & waited for the shot. I figured I'd rather die clean than raped, tortured, mutilated & probably in labor in which my baby would probably die, too. They laughed & drove off. The 7-11 clerk on the corner form whom I'd just purchased my favorite candybar, came running out with a gun in his hand & said he'd called the police. They found the guys & deported them. It never made the news because the city council members were trying to avoid racial unrest because of the amount of illegal Cubans in the area causing alot of sexually motivated crimes. Four years before that, a 14 year old friend of mine was kidnapped from her paper route & raped, tortured & murdered by one of the Cuban prisoners Castro sent to our country as "refugees" when he cleaned out his prisons. (But I don't hate Cubans or anyone else. But I don't support legislature that allows illegal aliens to stay here without background checks, though.) The real point is, people need to teach their kids how to SURVIVE being a victim, the first step is not to become one. That boy was so very LUCKY, and believe me, it was only luck & a cool head that saved him, but people tell your kids to run, whomever calls a kid a coward for running is himself an idiot.

7:05 PM, February 25, 2007  
Blogger Helen said...

Anonymous 7:05:

That is a very frightening story-I am so glad you are okay. Running away is a good strategy at times when confronted with violence. Certainly, if a child can run away from a confrontation, they should.

7:12 PM, February 25, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did they ever say why the man let the boy go?

Amy K.

7:27 PM, February 25, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

視訊做愛視訊美女無碼A片情色影劇kyo成人動漫tt1069同志交友網ut同志交友網微風成人論壇6k聊天室日本 avdvd 介紹免費觀賞UT視訊美女交友..........................

11:01 PM, May 19, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

倉井空aaa片俱樂部一劍浣春秋kyo成人動漫avav片av女優travianavastavdvdav美女go2av38ga免費aa片avhello成人電影院javatt1069同志交友網av1688影音娛樂網av博物館一葉情貼圖片區 av127免費av18禁影片go2av免費影av直播室av成人網avonline免費a片av最前線日本 avdvd 介紹免費觀賞免費ava片線上看ut同志交友網一葉晴貼影片區 av127

2:14 AM, June 08, 2009  

Post a Comment

<< Home