Babysitter Abandons 3 Children, Drives Off in Red Truck. But Kid Calls 911
Many households are in situations where parents work outside of the home, leaving children in the capable hands of sitters.
Finding the right loving, caring person for this task can be difficult and parents put their trust in these caregivers.
For one family, that trust was broken. But in a surprising turn of events, several smart youngsters outwitted their sitter.
These young children knew what to do in the face of an emergency and proved themselves capable in the face of trouble.
The mother of several young children, who ranged in ages 5-8, went to work, leaving her children in the care of a sitter. Some time later the sitter jumped into a red pickup truck, leaving the children alone.
The sitter, 59-year-old Jeanne Burns, was MIA for several hours, but the children didn’t panic. Instead they did the right thing and called 911.
They told the operator that their babysitter had left in a truck and they weren’t sure when she would be back. The police were called to the scene.
But the children weren’t done using their street smarts. As officers knocked on the door, they refused to let them in.
They had been taught not to open the door to strangers and that rule applied even to the police.
Two hours later, the children’s 11-year-old sibling arrived home. She was greeted by the police and quickly gave them Burns’ number so they could get a hold of her.
The sitter was brought into custody. She had told the children that she was going to Walgreens but then admitted that she had gone home.
You’d think it would take something pretty serious for a babysitter to get called away from their charges, but Burns went home, allegedly, to take a nap.
Burns continued to explain that her husband had cancer and she needed to go home and sleep. She also blamed the sleep for the state of her glassy eyes. Police weren’t sure what the real story was.
She was charged her with three counts of child neglect and was given a stiff bail. The children’s mother arrived home shortly after the arrest.
These young children are an amazing example of the importance of teaching home safety. They reacted to their potentially dangerous situation just as they should.
What a great example to the effectiveness of stranger danger lessons!
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