Parents angry after little boy goes missing

  Eyewitness News

JAMAICA, QUEENS (WABC) -- Some of the systems in place to keep young children safe broke down.

For more than two hours no one could find a 6-year-old boy.

School administrators at P.S. 80 are being grilled about what happened and the police are being accused of ignoring a families' plea for help.

Our camera was there when the boy was reunited with his family. Thankfully he's okay.

"I was thinking God knows where my son could be. No one had an answer for me," Trina Bascom said.

Shortly before 3:00 p.m., the 6 year-old was out in the courtyard of P.S. 80 at dismissal with the other children.

Somehow he was allowed to walk through the gates alone. No parent or guardian was with him.

Then he walked and walked, through intersection after busy intersection, for about 4 miles.

Meanwhile, his family was frantically calling 9-1-1 explaining that he was missing. They even went to the 113th precinct when no police officers came to help.

"He tells me we just got the call. We have a lot of cases, but this is a six year old. He's telling me to calm down, calm down. Don't get frantic," explained Bernard Lewis, a relative.

Two hours later, the boy was located at his father's Rockaway Boulevard office.

Just as he was being reunited with his family, police showed up. That was two hours after the 9-1-1 call.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said that they are investigating what went wrong.

Police officials said they were responding to a number of emergencies at the time. However, they are trying to determine whether the precinct could have responded in a more timely manner.

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