As I was driving home from school on Thursday, along a busy street, with no shoulders, I noticed a little girl off to the side of the road. She looked to be about the same age as the preschoolers I teach. Across the road was a small park. I could just see her trying to dart across the traffic to get to the swings! I slowed down, just in case, and kind of took in the setting. There was no adult to be seen. The little girl was spinning around the speed limit sign (40 mph, which no one was obeying)
In this day and age, I was afraid to pull over and take her back to her house, so I called the police. I could just see her getting hit or taken. After giving the dispatcher all of the information, he said they would send someone out "as soon as they could." I decided to turn around and watch. Do you know how long it took the police to respond to an unaccompanied child next to a busy street in Topeka, Kansas? THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES!! Unacceptable!
By the time they got there, the little girl was off running around her little neighborhood. Even though the police had her description, they merely cruised right past her and kept going. Who knows how far from her actual home she was? Do better!
