In a bizarre incident, an 8-year-old boy was dropped at this elementary school in Norfolk, Virginia, by two carjackers who stole his mother’s vehicle with him inside. Police found out that the thieves got into the vehicle and drove it off until they noticed the child on the backseat. Not intending to abduct him, they put him at ease and asked him what school he went to. So he told them, and the men dropped him in front of his school.
Police Cpl. Melinda Ray told Inside Edition that the two men stole the vehicle as it sat outside a Norfolk Post Office, where she works.
“The engine was running, the keys were in the ignition and the boy was inside listening to the radio. Apparently it was a work day routine – the mother started work before the child went to school, so she would leave him sitting in the car for 20 or 30 minutes and then come out and drive him to school.”
By her own admission, the mother said that she often leaves her son in the car so she can start working on her post office job while the boy enjoys some music. Shortly thereafter, she takes him to school.
After the mother reported her son and her car were missing, police discovered the child at school.
“When we got there, he was just sitting in his homeroom class like nothing had happened. He thought his mother had just arranged for someone else to take him to school. But when learned what had happened, he was quite frightened,” Ray said.
The child was unharmed. The vehicle was found abandoned about three miles from the school. Police are still searching for the school-friendly car thieves but did not clarify if the mother would be facing charges for leaving her child negligently. (She could have taken the boy inside!)
Although it’s legal to leave a car running in a parking lot, and also legal to leave a child alone, Hudson said police could file charges against the boy’s mother. “The investigators are still trying to determine if there was any type of danger to the child while the keys were inside the vehicle, running. They don’t want to jump to conclusions, they want to talk with her, figure things out,” said officer Daniel Hudson, a spokesperson for the Norfolk Police Department.
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