Three days after police, firefighters and neighbors spent six hours searching for a missing toddler in a Greenwood neighborhood, another little boy got out of his home and wandered away.
But this time, the boy was spotted by a neighbor in his Franklin neighborhood and was quickly returned home.
Just before 9:30 a.m. Thursday, police were called to the Northpointe neighborhood in Franklin. A resident had found a little boy, about 3, wandering through the neighborhood, according to the police report.
The boy was upset and couldn’t tell the police officer his name or where he lived, but he mentioned his grandfather. He also told the officer his dog was lost and he had been following the dog, the report said.
The officer and the boy began walking together and soon found the dog.
They continued walking, and the boy saw a blue scooter at a home that he said was his grandfather’s, the report.
The officer knocked on the door, and a man answered, looking relieved that the boy was found. He told police that he was watching his grandson at his daughter’s home, the two had taken a nap, and the boy must have awakened, the report said.
He also told police the front door was locked, and that the toddler must have gone out the back. Officers found that the gate was closed, but the bottom of the gate had a big enough gap for a boy and dog to get out of, and a barrier that had been covering it had been moved, the report said.
The boy’s grandfather told police the toddler had gotten out before, but he had noticed immediately.
He bought alarms for the doors but had not installed them yet. He planned to do that and whatever else was needed to make sure the boy did not wander away from home again, the report said.
The officer told the boy how important it is to never leave the home without an adult.
The Indiana Department of Child Services was contacted about the incident, the report said. That was the same procedure followed when a 3-year-old wandered away from his home in Greenwood on Monday, and emergency workers spent hours searching for him before he was found in a nearby home.
