American Exceptionalism in Detroit
She has a wide open smile, can wave and say ‘Hi,’ and ‘Thank you.’ She loves the snacks she’s been eating.
But the toddler abandoned Monday afternoon at a Detroit bus stop isn’t old enough to give police any clue as to who she is or where her family is. At this point, the best Detroit Police can do is hope that the child’s family will see the media reports and call.
A witness told police the child, whose age is estimated to be about 18 to 24 months, came up to a bus stop at the corner of Van Dyke and Nevada with a black man in his 20s. The man struck up a conversation with another man who was waiting for a bus. After a short time, the man who brought the child just walked away, leaving the little girl behind. The second man who was waiting for the bus took the child to the Perfecting Church, on the nearby street corner, and police were called.
Monday evening the child sat happily on Sgt. Richard Knox’s lap, munching Doritos, fiddling with Knox’s bow tie and smiling at reporters and photographers gathered to help police locate her family.
‘Right now we have no idea who this young lady is, she’s too young to know her name,’ said Knox, of the Detroit Police Child Abuse unit, which is investigating.
If no one claims her Monday night, she’ll be sent to foster care because the Child Abuse unit does not have overnight facilities, Knox said.
‘She seems like a happy child, she’s not afraid,’ Knox said. The toddler is affectionate, he said, and potty trained. She was wearing a pink striped, sleeveless top with hearts on it, denim shorts, sparkly pink tennis shoes and a dirty, pink knit jacket with sequins on the front.
I hope there is a happy ending here. Three cheers to the Good Samaratin and the Church.