Parents Have Emotional Reunion With Missing 5-Year-Old Boy
Thursday February 14, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
It's every parent's worst nightmare and it came true for one family in the city Thursday. But this dangerous story thankfully had a happy ending. It began around 8am in the Royal York and Eglinton area when a woman named Carla was dropping her child off at the Leonardo da Vinci Academy, an independent elementary school on Allanhurst Drive.

She did a double take, spotting a little boy who seemed to   more...be wandering the streets dressed only in his pajamas and bare feet in the freezing cold. She immediately called police.

"His feet were really red. He had obviously been out in the snow. He was frozen and really, really cold. We just wanted to make sure he was okay," said Carla.

Paramedics discovered the child in excellent shape, testimony to the good luck of having found him so quickly. But where was he from? Luckily, they didn't have to wait long for an answer to that question.

"Through some good efforts of some neighbours, we were able to find the parents," relates Sgt. John Stockfish. "The child has been reunited with his parents and no injuries. The child's in great health. We're just fortunate."

The youngster was with his busy nanny in a home just steps away from the school. When she attended to another tot in the house, the little guy took the opportunity to slip out of a garage door.

"Here's a nanny who's caring for two children," explains Stockfish. "She's getting one ready for school and the other child slips out of the garage and walks to school looking for his parents."

But fate intervened. It all happened just at the moment that parents were arriving to bring their own kids to the campus. With so many eyes on the scene, it didn't long for someone to spot the wandering wunderkind.

"I believe it was one of our parents who actually rescued him and brought him here, and then called the authorities," recalls principal Sal Ritacca.

Cops contacted the parents, who were on their way to work and came racing home for a reunion they couldn't have imagined just hours before. It was a heart rending moment, as they contemplated what might have been.

A CityNews cameraman spoke to the boy's father in Italian. He said he was more than relieved to have his son home safe and sound.

"They finally got together, it was quite emotional for mum especially, and dad was obviously quite, quite emotional as well," Stockfish recounts.

While the boy doesn't attend the school, he's familiar with the area because his bus picks him up there every day. In the end, it all concluded happily, although you can be sure his mom and dad will be setting the little guy straight about going anywhere alone. "The main thing is the child is safe," Stockfish agrees.

No charges will be laid and the boy remains back home alive, well and healthy - and hopefully with all the doors locked.  less