NEW: Boy tries to stuff foster mom in car trunk
Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010
Isn't fostering other peoples stolen children great?
By LINDA GITTLEMAN
Gratiot Managing Editor
A 15-year-old runaway from North Carolina who somehow ended up in Gratiot County’s foster care system allegedly assaulted his foster mother and tried to stuff her into the trunk of the family car early Wednesday evening.
The 66-year-old New Haven Township woman was able to fight her way out and fled in fear of her life, said Michigan State Post Commander Doug Wright.
“He actually picked her up and tried to put her in the trunk,” he said.
The boy then took the car and drove off.
By checking phone records, police were able to learn that the boy apparently had called a teenage friend in Lowell. State police troopers in Ithaca contacted the Lowell police, as well as the sheriff's department and state police there to keep an eye out for the car, Wright said.
Police in Lowell spotted the car sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., he said. A pursuit took place and eventually, stop sticks were used that flattened the tires.
The boy was taken into custody, and troopers from the Ithaca post picked him up.
The boy now is in a Saginaw juvenile detention facility waiting action from Gratiot County's Juvenile Court.
How the boy ended up in Gratiot’s system is not clear.
In January, he and his brother ran away from North Carolina to the mid-Michigan area. The pair were wanted by police in North Carolina for theft of handguns. Knowing that the boys had relatives in central Michigan, police in North Carolina notified state police in Ithaca.
State troopers contacted relatives and asked them to call police if they spotted the boys.
One relative did so and told police they were seen walking in the Perrinton area.
They were found and taken into custody.
No handguns were found, Wright said then, but they had marijuana and about $380 in cash on them.
Police believe the boys had taken a bus from North Carolina to Grand Rapids and found a friend to drive them to Gratiot County. Police speculate that the guns were sold either in North Carolina or Grand Rapids so that they could buy or sell drugs.
The 15-year-old and his brother never went back to North Carolina, and Wright said it’s not known why they were placed in temporary foster care in Michigan.
Wright said the foster mother suffered bruises and is very concerned for her safety.
http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2010/06/10/news/doc4c1150ba5769e376478182.txt
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