A Philadelphia school district is investigating after brothers, ages 3 and 4, walked more than half a mile home alone.
4-year-old Tevin Whitehead Jr. held his brother Tebron’s hand Monday afternoon as the two walked home,
6 ABC reports.
The news outlet reported the two crossed busy streets along the way, and when asked about knowing how to read traffic signals, Tevin said, “The red light means stop and the green light means go.”
The boys’ father, Tevin Sr., was shocked when the doorbell rang and his sons were on the doorstep.
“They said to me, ‘Daddy, we walked home.’ So I looked left and I looked right, and I am looking around to see – did they really walk home by theirself?”
After school the boys usually get picked up by a church day care. The employee arrived for the pickup that afternoon, but the boys were nowhere to be found on school property.
“It was a mix-up, and I am just wondering how did they lose a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old?” said Rakida Brown, the boys’ mother.
Lisabeth Marziello, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, spoke to 6 ABC Thursday.
“Our staff walk to Wister Elementary School daily, to walk kids from the school to the Club so they are safe,” Marziello said. “When our staff were walking out of the auditorium they noticed the two boys following the group- when they got outside in front of the school, the two boys walked away from the group onto the playground. Our staff immediately walked over to the boys and asked them if they were supposed to be with the Boys & Girls Club. The Boys said ‘No’. Still in front of the school- our staff walked the Boys back into the school and into the auditorium with the school staff and where they would be safe. We never took the kids nor did we remove them from the property- our staff actually tried to stop the kids from leaving- and brought them back into the school where they belonged.”
The district claims they were frantically looking for the boys. They say they never returned to the school.
The school district and the Boys and Girls Club are investigating the incident.
