(KATV) Conway - Monday morning, a Conway
mom got a call while at work that her two-year old was found walking down a
busy street alone. It took the babysitter more than an hour and a half to
realize he was missing, she has since been arrested.
The toddler was a
good hands at the Conway Police Department but imagine his family's emotions seeing
his picture on a website asking for someone to come forward and identify him.
This is the picture
that went viral across Central Arkansas, taken by Latresha Woodruff at the Conway
Police Department. She says, "People started coming to see him and he was very
friendly and not scared, didn't cry."
Woodruff says the
department got a call that a child was walking near the intersection of 2nd
and Hays. He wasn't far from home but almost got hit by a car. "Officers
started going door to door in that area trying to figure out who this child
belongs to and how he came to be in the middle of the street."
As protocol officers
called the Department of Human services (DHS) to pick up the boy, but not
before grandma showed up to identify her grandbaby. "She showed me her
identification, but when he saw her, he ran over and started hugging her so
there was no doubt about who she was," Woodruff explained.
The two-year old was
in police custody for nearly two hours before they pinpointed his home. Woodruff
says when the sitter opened the door, she said she didn't have time to call
police. "Because at that moment when she realized he was gone, officers knocked
on her door."
21-year old Stacey Hughey
was arrested, charged with endangering the welfare of a minor. Woodruff adds, "From
what we understand, she didn't deliberately let the child out, but he did get
out under her watch."
When Channel Seven stopped
by the home, the two-year old's mom was packing her SUV with toys and clothes.
In a hurry, all she said is she was terrified over what could have happened to
her son.
Woodruff concludes, "Luckily
he wasn't hit and he was alright. We got to visit with him for a little bit and
now he is back with his mom."
After a routine
interview with the child's mom, DHS let the 2 year old go home.
Both of Stacey
Hughey's small children were at the home. Hughey's family shares the apartment
home with the boy and his mom. Hughey told police, the toddler usually comes to
her when he wakes up, but Monday, he didn't.
Picture by the Conway Police Department
