Boy, 11, drives 200 miles

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-10-09 11:29pm

Boy, 11, drives 200 miles
Saturday, October 9, 2004 Posted: 1508 GMT (2308 HKT)

INDEPENDENCE, Missouri (AP) -- An 11-year-old boy who told authorities he was upset about being bullied at school took off in the family car on an odyssey that ended more than 200 miles away on the other side of the state.

Wearing shorts and a T-shirt, the boy left his suburban Kansas City home early Tuesday , making his way onto Interstate 35 and driving 92 miles to Bethany, a northwest Missouri community in an area where he used to hunt with his father.

He stopped there at a convenience store for some chips and a soft drink, then drove off aimlessly, following several other highways before ending up 135 miles away in Callao in northeast Missouri's Macon County.

Sgt. Michael Johnston of the Macon County Sheriff's Department said he got a call about 10:30 a.m. from the Callao postmaster, who reported that a boy was locked out of his car and wanted to talk.

"He just wanted some help," Johnston said. "He was a very polite guy. He spoke highly of his parents. He spoke highly of his school. But he knew he was in trouble."

The boy told Johnson he left home about 5:10 a.m. and had driven at speeds up to 85 mph.

"He was darn lucky," Johnston said.

The boy reported some problems during the trip, saying the 1995 Chevrolet ran out of gasoline at one point, but that he continued on his way after some construction workers helped him out.

After locking himself out of the car when he stopped to use a restroom in Callao, he went to the post office and asked for help.

Johnston said the boy told him his only driving experience was operating a tractor a few times and backing the car out of the driveway.

The relieved parents, who had filed a missing person report in Independence noting that their car and keys were also gone, picked their son up at mid-afternoon Tuesday. He was back in school the next day.

Officials said they had not seen any indications of bullying at the boy's school.

"But we're taking the concern very seriously," Associate Superintendent Patty Schumacher said. "We don't want a student to ever feel pushed into a corner or want to just take off."

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-10-10 12:07am

Officials said they had not seen any indications of bullying at the boy's school.

They never do.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-10-10 12:51am

Mayabird wrote:
Officials said they had not seen any indications of bullying at the boy's school.
They never do.

Amen to the Seventh Power on that. You nailed it right between the eyes

And it's not like they're blind, either. They know what happens...

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-10-10 01:00am

They just don't give a blue damn.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-10-10 01:04am

frigidmagi wrote:They just don't give a blue damn.

And they don't supervise, so they can't properly enforce anti-bullying rules. My boy was once suspended from school because somebody accused him of hitting her. We contested the accusation because that's totally unlike him and because he had no record of any such behaviour, and it turns out that she had a history of making such accusations against other students in her class. Moreover, it turned out that nobody was watching the schoolyard at the time of the incident, so they just took her word for it.

So what's more disturbing? The fact that they would punish a kid based solely on another kid's testimony, or the fact that they don't watch the goddamned schoolyard?

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-10 01:10am

Darth Wong wrote:So what's more disturbing? The fact that they would punish a kid based solely on another kid's testimony, or the fact that they don't watch the goddamned schoolyard?

The former, at least in my opinion. In the latter, while it isn't good, I don't think it's as bad as accusing someone on false pretenses and assuming guilt, all on the word of another who's been shown to be unreliable before.

sketerpot · Post by **sketerpot** » 2004-10-10 02:00pm

Stofsk wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:So what's more disturbing? The fact that they would punish a kid based solely on another kid's testimony, or the fact that they don't watch the goddamned schoolyard?
The former, at least in my opinion. In the latter, while it isn't good, I don't think it's as bad as accusing someone on false pretenses and assuming guilt, all on the word of another who's been shown to be unreliable before.

Presuming guilt on the word of someone unreliable who accuses people often... suddenly, inspiration strikes!

Suppose that a school decided to get tough on bullying, but they were pitifully inept. This seems highly plausible to me. What's to stop a group of kids from accusing people all over the place and starting up the Salem bully trials?

It sounds like something that might make a decent story. If you make it depressing enough, it might manage to displace The Crucible as required reading in English class. That can only be a good thing.

GySgt. Hartman · Post by **GySgt. Hartman** » 2004-10-10 03:54pm

The boy reported some problems during the trip, saying the 1995 Chevrolet ran out of gasoline at one point, but that he continued on his way after some construction workers helped him out.

So this 11yo tells them that his car ran out of gas and they didn't notice anything strange but helped him out? How old can an 11yo kid look?

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2004-10-10 04:56pm

GySgt. Hartman wrote:
The boy reported some problems during the trip, saying the 1995 Chevrolet ran out of gasoline at one point, but that he continued on his way after some construction workers helped him out.
So this 11yo tells them that his car ran out of gas and they didn't notice anything strange but helped him out? How old can an 11yo kid look?

Dunno, I've seen twelve year old females I thought were eighteen.... how old can a boy look though?

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2004-10-11 05:01pm

Well, it's not impossible that they mistooken him for a very young looking 14-16 year old.

Sokartawi · Post by **Sokartawi** » 2004-10-11 05:17pm

Mayabird wrote:
Officials said they had not seen any indications of bullying at the boy's school.
They never do.

When my parents went to the school to talk about bullying, the response of the teacher (currently headmaster of the school) was: "Bullying does not exist at this school at all"

Yeah right...

The Aliens · Post by **The Aliens** » 2004-10-11 08:24pm

I work at summer camp, and we actually do supervise our kids. I know the education system doesn't, but I make it a priority at work to watch out for indications someone is being bullied or taunted. The ratio of children to counsellor is a smidge lower than school (20 to 1, rather than 25 or 30 to 1), but there's no excuse not to be vigilant about this sort of thing.

Speaking of being accused without evidence, 50 kids (myself included) were sent home from a Leadership Retreat on suspicion of drug use (the room smelled like weed). The catch- no-one had pot, and the only evidence was a smell in the room (not the curtains or people's clothes) that the teacher was convinced was weed. Being accused of something you didn't know blows severe ass, but once a teacher makes an allegation, they can't really back down.

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Boy, 11, drives 200 miles

Boy, 11, drives 200 miles

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