Barefoot 8-Year-Old Found Crossing Highway Alone In Lakeland: Watch

LAKELAND, FL — A barefoot 8-year-old boy was found alone on a busy Lakeland highway after he left his house to buy snacks from a nearby gas station by himself, Florida Highway Patrol said in a social media post. (Watch dashcam footage of the trooper’s encounter with the child below.)

The trooper spotted the boy, wearing sweatpants, a hoodie, and no socks or shoes, trying to cross the four-lane Kathleen Road, near Mall Hill Drive, from a grassy median — not a crosswalk — around 11:30 p.m., WTSP said.

The boy was carrying a bag of Pringles and soda, reports said.

The trooper noted that it was “excessively hot,” at 88 degrees, though the child hadn’t burned his feet, reports said.

The boy told the trooper that he left his home to go to the store without telling his mother, who was there tanning with his two older sisters, WFLA said.

The trooper brought the child home, and Lakeland police are investigating, reports said.

Watch the trooper’s dashcam footage below:

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