Boy Wanders From Camp Onto Highway
Imagine driving down the highway and seeing your child walking along the shoulder. It's frightening to even think about it, but that's exactly what happened to a Howard County mother and her autistic son. The boy wandered from a county-run day camp at Veterans Elementary School in Ellicott City. Kristen Detwiler, the mother, finds it hard to let go of her son after what happened last week when 7 year old Colin, who has autism, wandered from summer camp. Colin says, "If you escape from school, your mother or father will be very angry." It's an important lesson his mom hopes he will never forget. "Don't escape right? Yeah. Stay with adults." Like many kids in Howard County, Colin was at summer camp. It was the first day of the Summer Sunsations day camp run by the Department of Recreation and Parks. A 19 year old camp counselor was responsible for watching him, but Colin still managed to walk away. The entire ordeal began at Veterans Elementary School when Colin was allowed to wander from school. He managed to cross the busy intersection at Route 103. Finally about a mile later, Colin ended up on the highway. Luckily his mom just happened to be driving in the area and saw her son walking along Route 100. Detwiler says, "In shock, I slammed on my brakes, got out of my car, and started running up 100 after him screaming his name, saying stop." Colin eventually listened to his mom. Passing motorists called 911. But Detwiler wants to know why it took camp counselors at least 30 minutes to report her child missing. Detwiler says, “Clearly there was not a good protocol for handling a lost child. 911 should've been notified right away whether he was in that building or not rather than searching." Howard County Executive Ken Ulman says, "Bottom line is I've instructed the folks at Rec and Parks to do everything they can to better train, to better enforce the rules, and to make sure this never happens again." The camp counselor who was responsible for watching Colin has been reassigned to another location.
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