Police: Toddler found playing on highway?

Question

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/31/highway.toddler.ap/index.html

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- Drivers swerved cars and trucks into other lanes to avoid a 3-year-old boy, wearing only a diaper and T-shirt, who was playing along a busy highway after wandering away from home while his mother slept, police said.

Some motorists stopped along Interstate 465 on the city's west side Saturday to take care of the boy until officers arrived, the Indiana State Police said.

"I looked up and I seen this little ... boy running down the middle of the slow lane in the interstate. I just could not believe what I was seeing," said Troy Crady, one of those who stopped to help.

The boy, Damon Dyer, was unscathed as at least a half-dozen cars and a tractor-trailer rig swerved into other lanes to avoid him. Temperatures were in the mid 50s as the boy ran around barefooted.

Police said they traced the toddler to an apartment at a nearby complex, where they found his mother, Nancy Dyer asleep in a filthy apartment and his 2-year-old sister eating spaghetti off the floor.

Dyer, 33, was arrested on two counts of child neglect and remained in custody Sunday, officials said.

Senior State Trooper Cedric Merritt said that when Dyer was told of her son's activities, she responded: "Oh, he got out again."

Investigators said the boy got out his second-story apartment, went down stairs and got around a fence to reach the highway about 200 yards away.

Child Protective Services took the boy and his sister into custody, and investigators said the agency also had been called to the apartment Thursday because the boy was outside unsupervised.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Answer 1

Umm, it says right on this article that it is not to be copied. That should mean something to you don't you think? You could get in a lot of trouble for reprinting copyrighted material such as this.

Answer 2

This is really pathetic, but what's more pathetic is the women will probably get the children back and then it will happen again. Not until one of them dies will something actually be done. Being a mom with a 6 month old and a 5 year old i would at least have enough brains to know that if there was even a remote possibility that i should lay down and doze off ( yeah right) that all the doors would be locked so at least the 5 year old wouldnt leave. Some people should not even be allowed to reproduce.

Answer 3

As horrible and unbelievable as this story is, a few years back I got two children in my childcare that was in an instance just like this one. They came to be in my childcare because the children were taken by social services from the mother, who had left her two children, ages 4 and 2, in their apartment for the day while she went to work for 8 HOURS. The police found the two children walking along the highway near their home, who were intending to cross it to get to the park on the other side. Luckily, these children were taken from their mother, who was charged with criminal neglect, and placed in the custody of CPS. The children came to me with severe anxiety disorders- the 2 year old would scream bloody murder if you walked out of a room and he could no longer see you. A repercussion of having been left alone for 8 or more hours a day. The 4 year old couldn't eat enough... she'd eat like a dog who hadn't eaten in days, guarding her food- their mother left her with instructions to get stuff out of the refridgerator if they got hungry while she was gone. Some people have no idea how to be parents, and children suffer like this all the time. It is appalling and grotesque, and I couldn't imagine allowing a child to suffer in this way, or purposefully hurting them. I pray that the boy in your article is placed with a loving family, who will work hard to regain the trust and belief in people that he has lost from living with the neglegent mother he had.

Answer 4

They don't say everything that went on. I can understand about the mother sleeping and the child getting out because oh my God, it's happened to me before. I was also asleep on the couch. The medication I was on caused me to constantly dose off. I haven't taken those meds for well over a year now because the risks weren't worth it. Now, other than that, it's pathetic. A filthy apartment? A 2 year old eating off the floor? There's no need for that. I hope that mother feels like a worthless piece of crap like she is. I know I felt like a terrible mom when my oldest went outside in teh middle of summer. She went out back, which is fenced in but I still felt horrible and it hasn't happened again. I feel sorry for those poor kids.

Answer 5

I think this is absolutely irresponsible behavior and the response she gave was totally inappropriate. I can understand falling asleep on the couch while your kids are watching cartoons or something, but kids generally wake you up 50 times during your nap to ask for stuff (at least mine do) and she could of LOCKED her door. Every house with small children in it should have at least one child proof lock on it that a child can not unlock!! It's for there safety!! And come on people how long does it really take to clean your house?? I know kids can mess a house up in 10 seconds flat, but someone should be cleaning it to. And her response “Oh he got out again” shows absolutely no love or worry for her children’s welfare, health or life. In my option this women does not deserve to have her kids back anytime soon. I hope she spends real time in jail for negate and child abuse. I also hope she gets real canceling and some major parenting classes.

I feel bad for these children, I hope they find a real loving home with people who care about what happens to them.

Answer 6

Unfortunately there are many more cases like this - and it is happening all around us. I think of Andrea Yates and what she did to her children. I can't help but think of all of the people around her who could have taken care of those children but - no one did anything.

I have always heard that there is a special God for the children and maybe, just maybe this little guy was guided by something more powerful than his sleeping mother. Because he "got out again" he and his little sister will be cared for by someone who will do it because they want to, not because they are stuck.

I have nothing but contempt for the woman who does not desreve to be called mother or Mom -- she has not earned that term of endearment.

Answer 7

Seems like she has a lot of problems and probably was neglected and abused herself. Is she a single mom? There is no father mentioned. I pray that she gets help, counseling and healing from her one problems and bad memories. Is she depressed? I have heard of people like this that completely changed with Gods help. There is hope for her and her children. She does not want to pass that bad heritage onto her children.

Answer 8

I bet they will fix her right up, as they should. Actually, She will probably be sent to parenting classes... then given back her children to further neglect.

Answer 9

there is no excuse whatsoever for letting your kid ran around like that and have the childs life be endangered that is terrible i hope she feels terrible

Happy New Year!!!

Answer 10

thats really sad and to think how many good people cant have children and thier are '"parents" outt here like that