A west-central Florida police deputy struck a deal with a runaway autistic child to encourage the child to stay at home, a heartwarming video published Thursday showed.
Deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) responded at about 6 p.m. May 3 to a report that Elijah, 9, had gone missing, having slipped away from home without his parents’ knowledge, according to the video published by the HCSO. The officers located the child within two hours of the report with the help of SafetyNet, a geolocation technology that helps officers track and find missing and endangered people—particularly people with cognitive disorders, according to the video.
The officers found Elijah sitting in the bed of a truck and offered to take him back home, the video showed. One of the officers, Master Sgt. Jeffery Massaro struck up a conversation with the stern-looking child. (RELATED: Video Shows Florida Boy Called 911 For An Adorable Reason)
“Do you have any plans for the summer? Because school’s about done, right?” asked Sgt. Massaro.
Elijah shook his head.
“No? Don’t have any vacation or anything?” he asked.
“I need a bike tire and I need a bike,” Elijah said matter-of-factly.
“You have a bike now with the tires blown?” asked Master Sgt. Massaro.
Elijah nodded slowly.
“Okay. Where do you usually ride your bike? Around here in the neighborhood?”
“No—I ride it down there,” Elijah replied, gesturing.
“Okay. D’you want me to see if I can fix the tire for you?”
“I don’t know if it’s fixable.”
“What happened? Did it get busted or just blown?”
“I don’t know,” Elijah replied. “But it’s not pumping air.”
“When we go back home, will you show it to me and I’ll see if I can fix it, okay? How’s that sound?”
Elijah nodded in approval.
“Do you wear a helmet when you ride?” asked Master Sgt. Massaro.
“I don’t have one. So that’s why I don’t go to school,” Elijah replied, looking down.
“So if I get you a helmet, would you, would you wear it? Okay?”
Elijah nodded.
“All right. So I’ll get you a helmet and we’ll see if we can fix your tire, okay? How’s that sound?”
Elijah nodded in agreement again.
“All right. But if we do that, could you promise me that — that you’ll try not to run away so much?” Massaro asked, stifling a laugh. “What do you think? Can we make a deal on that?”
Elijah nodded in agreement.
“Shake on it?”
Elijah nodded again. Massaro extended his hand and Elijah shook hands with him.
“All right,” said Massaro, as they both still shook hands. “So I’m gonna get you a bike helmet, and I’m gonna fix your bike for you, and you promise me that you’re not gonna keep running away, we’re gonna try something different next time, okay?”
Elijah nodded.
Master Sgt. Massaro made good on his promise, buying Elijah a bike and a helmet, as two photos of the two males smiling and posing with the items in the video showed.
Sheriff Chad Chronister praised his deputies and thanked Brandon Bikeworks, a family-owned bike shop, for helping with the items, according to the HCSO’s accompanying statement.