OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Okeechobee police said they are looking for a driver who pulled up to a young boy at his home and yelled for him to come toward her last week.
In newly obtained surveillance footage, a white 4-door Chevy Malibu is seen pulling up to the 9-year-old who was playing basketball in his driveway on Southwest 19th Street.
In the video, you hear the driver appear to yell, "Hey young boy, I need to ask you something," prompting the boy to run toward his home and get his mother.
"[The incident] scared him," the boy's mother said. "He started running toward the house and at that time I came out and the car was already gone."
His mother, who did not want WPTV to use her name, said her son is "still a little shaken up about it."
"Kids should be able to play in their own yards without being scared," the mother said.
While the car was captured on camera, Okeechobee police have not been able to find footage clear enough to show the license plate number.
That is why they are hoping someone might recognize the car or the woman's voice. They said that is their best chance, for now, of figuring out the woman's intentions.
"Unless we talk to her, we really don't know at this point," Sgt. Aurelio Almazen said.
The mother said her son described the driver as an older woman with white or gray hair with a raspy voice.
The mother said her entire neighborhood is on high alert.
"I can tell you that all of us down our road, we're not mommas you want to play with," the mother said.
She is hoping the woman might also call the police if she did not have bad intentions, so she can explain herself and put the family at ease.
"[For example,] if she needed help, I would have hoped she would have said, 'I'm missing my dog,' but trying to really pull the child to the vehicle was out of line," the mother said.
If you recognize the vehicle, contact the Okeechobee City Police Department at (863) 763-5521 or the Okeechobee Sheriff's Office at (863) 763-3117 and reference city case #221111007.
