Missing 13-Year-Old Bronx Autistic Boy Found Safe By Good Samaritans
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A missing autistic boy from the Bronx has been reunited with his family after being found safe by good Samaritans in the subway.
Ross Harrison was reunited with his mother early Friday morning. The 13-year-old has been missing since Tuesday and was still wearing the same shirt he had on when he first disappeared on his way to school.
1010 WINS' John Montone reports
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Harrison was tired and hungry, but overall in good health after spending three days alone on the streets and in the subways of New York.
WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reports
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"He was telling me that he wants to come home," Harrison's mother, Rosura Taberas, told CBS 2's Kathryn Brown. "That he was walking and going inside the train and was trying to come back home."
"I'm running and running and running and running," Harrison told Brown.
Harrison is autistic and has a severe speech impediment, so his parents were extremely worried that he wouldn't be able to find his way home.
They had been plastering the neighborhood with flyers with Harrison's picture and all their efforts paid off.
Dozens of sightings came pouring in over the last 24 hours and overnight, two good Samaritans spotted the teen on the J train in Brooklyn and brought him to the 4-6 Precinct.
From there, he was escorted back to the Bronx where he was reunited with his mother and checked out by medics.
Taberas, who admitted she had not slept in three days since her son went missing, didn't get the names of those who found her son, but has a message for them.
"I just want to tell them thanks a lot. They made me very happy," she said.
Taberas said her son had been bullied recently and that's why he ran away.
She said her relief at finding him was mixed with anger -- and she has a message for her son's tormenters.
"They gotta stop doing that. Look at what happened. And sometimes that goes worse than that," Taberas said.
Taberas said she's also grateful to the many people who kept their eyes open and phoned in tips over the last three days. She saud getting word that her son was safe was what kept her going.
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