A child who was reported missing in New York City was caught playing hooky by none other than a local news helicopter.
The 9-year-old was reported missing around 9:45 a.m. local time after he did not show up to school at 7 a.m. on Aug. 22, the New York Police Department (NYPD) told CBS affiliate WCBS-TV, Fox News and the New York Post.
Following the report, a news helicopter was sent to the area where the boy was reported missing.
Inside the chopper, WCBS and WNYW aerial reporter Dan Rice said he and his pilot Eric Ross were “circling around” his Brooklyn apartment building when they came across someone that “fit the description of the missing child” sitting on a chair on the rooftop,” according to WCBS-TV.
An NYPD alert had noted that the child had been wearing an orange tie when he had gone off to school in the morning — a detail that tipped off Rice.
“I looked down at my notes. I see what the assignment desk had sent me, and I see what the child was wearing. I look back at the child, and that child was wearing everything that’s in the description. He looked to be about 9 years old,” Rice told the station.
Rice then called the NYPD, who eventually made their way up on the roof and confirmed that it was indeed the child reported missing earlier in the day.
“He just packs up his computer and his book bag and goes off with the police officers,” Rice recalled to WCBS-TV. “They look back at our helicopter, gave us a big thumbs up and took [the] child down to his parents.”
Police confirmed to the outlets that the boy was eventually reunited with his mother.
Rice noted that the incident was “the first time we’ve seen something like this happen,” adding that he was glad “to be able to find that child for the parents down in that building. It was a really gratifying experience.”
Another neighbor told WCBS-TV that they had gone up to the rooftop to have a “cup of coffee” around 8 a.m. and noticed the child as well, but didn’t think anything of it at the time.
“There’s a swinging bench up there, sort of. The kid was sitting on the bench playing on his iPad,” the neighbor said. “I thought his parents gave him permission to go up there. I didn’t even think, ‘Why would the kid be up there?’ It’s a community place.”
