Toddler goes for a walk, gets returned home
Staff writer
A Marion toddler who let himself out of the house while his mother was sleeping ended up safely returned to his mother Tuesday.
Neighbors saw the 2-year-old walking around in his warm pajamas in the 400 block of S. Cedar St. about 9 a.m. and notified police.
Officer Duane McCarty said he had the boy, who was carrying a blanket and a teddy bear, sit in his car to stay warm while he checked nearby residences and posted the boy’s photo on social media in hope someone would recognize him.
“Deputy Aaron Christner helped me out and was very good with the kid,” McCarty said.
When the boy’s mother woke up half an hour later and realized her son was gone, she called police.
“The mother said they just moved into the house, and the little boy opened up the door,” McCarty said. “Thank God for the neighbors who look out for other people.”
The boy had wandered only about 100 feet from his home, McCarty said.
McCarty said he was glad things worked out. Even though Marion is a small town, an unattended child could have been bitten by a stray dog, fallen into a storm sewer, hit by a vehicle, or found himself in a similar bad situation.