ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An investigation has been launched by the city of Orlando to find out why a 5-year-old boy walked home from an after-school program in Orange County.
The after-school program at the Dr. James R. Smith Neighborhood Center is run by the city of Orlando.
Jessica Perry and Jerald Williams are demanding answers after their 5-year-old son walked 2 miles by himself to get home.
“Anything could've happened to him, walking down this stretch of road,” said Jerald Williams, the boy's father.
William's told Channel 9's Ty Russell that last Thursday when he and the boy's mother arrived to sign him out of the city-run facility and drive him home, as they've been doing since the start of the school year, he wasn't there.
"The first thing I'm thinking is, 'Lord, did you leave him in the van or did you leave him at school?' Where's my child?" said the boy's mother, Jessica Perry.
Perry and Williams believe someone at the center told their son to walk home. They said, when they were trying to figure out what happened, program staff members were unwilling to contact a supervisor.
The boy was not hurt.
A spokesperson for the city of Orlando told Eyewitness News in an email Friday that "We take the safety of our residents and youth very seriously.”
The spokesperson said the employee at the center has been suspended without pay.
An investigation of the situation has begun.
Cox Media Group
