Post by novillero on Sept 7, 2008 8:27:00 GMT -5
Just in time, officer saves autistic boy, 6
PEDALING TOWARD TROUBLE
By Michelle Sahn • STAFF WRITER • September 6, 2008
FREEHOLD — Police Sgt. Andrew A. DeMuth simply stopped by a Fourth Street home to drop off materials from the Youth Police Academy, but police say his visit may have saved the life of a 6-year-old autistic boy.
The child had left home on his bicycle, and police found him about a mile away on South Street — also known as Route 79 — pedaling toward busy Business Route 33.
"This was seconds away from a tragedy," DeMuth said.
Jahmir Mayfield, 6, suffers from autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, his mother, Iris Mayfield, said. Because he has a tendency to wander away from home, he wears a global positioning tracking device around his wrist, she said.
"His little brain doesn't function like we do," his mother said. "He feels, "I learned how to ride a bike and I can just take off.' He may be 6, but he's thinking at a 3-year-old's level."
"I'm constantly telling him, "Come here Jahmir. You've got to stay by Mom.' "
Jahmir just started learning how to ride the bike without training wheels, and he has no fear, his mother said.
Around 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening, he was playing in the backyard. Mayfield was cooking and washing clothes when her mother-in-law, Karen Mayfield, asked her where Jahmir had gone.
Moments later, DeMuth arrived to drop off certificates and a DVD for Jahmir's 12-year-old sister, Yameenah, who had attended the department's Youth Police Academy. Police made 15 minute videos — a sort of recap of the academy — for each child who attended the program, and DeMuth was making the rounds, dropping DVDs off.
Mayfield explained the situation to the sergeant and gave him a description of her son and the clothing he was wearing, then hurried back inside to call Freehold police headquarters.
She told her four other children — Naeemah, 15, Yameenah, Imamu, 11, and Naim, 8 — to get on their bicycles and search a nearby park for Jahmir because he tends to head there when he wanders off. When they could not find him, she began driving around town, while her mother-in-law accompanied DeMuth, who had radioed other officers with a description of Jahmir.
Across town, nearly a mile away, Officer Steven Cicero, a 25-year veteran of the force, was on South Street. He saw a line of four or five vehicles moving slowly. Initially, he figured another driver was holding up traffic while trying to make a turn, but then he saw the boy on the little BMX-type bike, weaving from the curb to the yellow line in the middle of the street.
"He was riding the bike all over the road," he said. "He was actually in the middle of the road."
Cicero drove past the other cars, and pulled alongside of Jahmir. The officer told the child to stop and that he needed to talk to him, but the little boy looked at the officer, then pedaled faster.
Cicero kept pace with Jahmir and continued to tell the child he needed to speak with him, but the little boy wouldn't stop pedaling, so the officer pulled ahead of Jahmir and stopped traffic.
Cicero got out of his police cruiser and hid behind another parked car, and as Jahmir pedaled along the solid yellow line on the road, heading toward Route 33, the officer jumped out and grabbed the little boy and his bike.
"He was heading for one of our busiest highways in Freehold: Route 33," Cicero said. "His mother later said he wouldn't have stopped for cars. Finding that out later on was kind of chilling. He wasn't that far from Route 33."
Debra Gray, Jahmir's assistant teacher at the Freehold Learning Center, happened to be driving by around the same time. She saw the commotion, pulled over, and stayed with the child to comfort him until his mother arrived.
"Within five minutes, he wound up on South Street, driving in the middle of the road, with traffic going both ways," said Mayfield. "Jahmir's assistant teacher was in the traffic, and she said he was two minutes away from getting hit from two cars."
When Mayfield arrived, she saw the bicycle, but did not immediately see her son.
"When I saw the bike laying there, I said, "Oh Lord, please don't tell me someone hit him,' " she said. "There were so many cops there, I was just thinking the worst. I went there, and he looked at me, and was like, "Hi, Mom.' "
She said she is grateful for the help from police and Gray.
"He knew her, and he stood next to her until he saw me," she said. "He said "Hi, Mom,' and when I saw him, my heart just dropped, like "Oh, my goodness, little boy, you're going to drive me to my grave.' "
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080906/NEWS/809060364/1285/LOCAL09
PEDALING TOWARD TROUBLE
By Michelle Sahn • STAFF WRITER • September 6, 2008
FREEHOLD — Police Sgt. Andrew A. DeMuth simply stopped by a Fourth Street home to drop off materials from the Youth Police Academy, but police say his visit may have saved the life of a 6-year-old autistic boy.
The child had left home on his bicycle, and police found him about a mile away on South Street — also known as Route 79 — pedaling toward busy Business Route 33.
"This was seconds away from a tragedy," DeMuth said.
Jahmir Mayfield, 6, suffers from autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, his mother, Iris Mayfield, said. Because he has a tendency to wander away from home, he wears a global positioning tracking device around his wrist, she said.
"His little brain doesn't function like we do," his mother said. "He feels, "I learned how to ride a bike and I can just take off.' He may be 6, but he's thinking at a 3-year-old's level."
"I'm constantly telling him, "Come here Jahmir. You've got to stay by Mom.' "
Jahmir just started learning how to ride the bike without training wheels, and he has no fear, his mother said.
Around 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening, he was playing in the backyard. Mayfield was cooking and washing clothes when her mother-in-law, Karen Mayfield, asked her where Jahmir had gone.
Moments later, DeMuth arrived to drop off certificates and a DVD for Jahmir's 12-year-old sister, Yameenah, who had attended the department's Youth Police Academy. Police made 15 minute videos — a sort of recap of the academy — for each child who attended the program, and DeMuth was making the rounds, dropping DVDs off.
Mayfield explained the situation to the sergeant and gave him a description of her son and the clothing he was wearing, then hurried back inside to call Freehold police headquarters.
She told her four other children — Naeemah, 15, Yameenah, Imamu, 11, and Naim, 8 — to get on their bicycles and search a nearby park for Jahmir because he tends to head there when he wanders off. When they could not find him, she began driving around town, while her mother-in-law accompanied DeMuth, who had radioed other officers with a description of Jahmir.
Across town, nearly a mile away, Officer Steven Cicero, a 25-year veteran of the force, was on South Street. He saw a line of four or five vehicles moving slowly. Initially, he figured another driver was holding up traffic while trying to make a turn, but then he saw the boy on the little BMX-type bike, weaving from the curb to the yellow line in the middle of the street.
"He was riding the bike all over the road," he said. "He was actually in the middle of the road."
Cicero drove past the other cars, and pulled alongside of Jahmir. The officer told the child to stop and that he needed to talk to him, but the little boy looked at the officer, then pedaled faster.
Cicero kept pace with Jahmir and continued to tell the child he needed to speak with him, but the little boy wouldn't stop pedaling, so the officer pulled ahead of Jahmir and stopped traffic.
Cicero got out of his police cruiser and hid behind another parked car, and as Jahmir pedaled along the solid yellow line on the road, heading toward Route 33, the officer jumped out and grabbed the little boy and his bike.
"He was heading for one of our busiest highways in Freehold: Route 33," Cicero said. "His mother later said he wouldn't have stopped for cars. Finding that out later on was kind of chilling. He wasn't that far from Route 33."
Debra Gray, Jahmir's assistant teacher at the Freehold Learning Center, happened to be driving by around the same time. She saw the commotion, pulled over, and stayed with the child to comfort him until his mother arrived.
"Within five minutes, he wound up on South Street, driving in the middle of the road, with traffic going both ways," said Mayfield. "Jahmir's assistant teacher was in the traffic, and she said he was two minutes away from getting hit from two cars."
When Mayfield arrived, she saw the bicycle, but did not immediately see her son.
"When I saw the bike laying there, I said, "Oh Lord, please don't tell me someone hit him,' " she said. "There were so many cops there, I was just thinking the worst. I went there, and he looked at me, and was like, "Hi, Mom.' "
She said she is grateful for the help from police and Gray.
"He knew her, and he stood next to her until he saw me," she said. "He said "Hi, Mom,' and when I saw him, my heart just dropped, like "Oh, my goodness, little boy, you're going to drive me to my grave.' "
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080906/NEWS/809060364/1285/LOCAL09
