Good Samaritan in Richfield Saves Boy from Freezing to Death

A young boy is safe and warm Wednesday thanks to the quick thinking and actions of a good Samaritan in Richfield. On Tuesday night, the Bloomington Police Department received a call regarding a 12-year-old boy who ran away from home around 11:45 p.m.

Authorities had been searching for the boy for two hours when Richfield police took a call from “Jimmy” at about 2:20 a.m. near 71st St and Chicago Ave S regarding a young male not dressed for the weather.

Jimmy told police he came across the boy on his way home, thought it was odd that he was out and alone, and stopped to see what was going on. Jimmy gave his own coat to the boy until a police officer arrived and placed the boy in a squad car with the heat on high, according to a post on the Richfield Facebook Page.

The boy said his things were "over there" and pointed to a dumpster. Police discovered he had his sleeping bag and pillow set up behind a dumpster, hidden from the street. He tried to sleep on the ground in single-digit temperatures after he couldn’t get into a friend’s place, according to police.

Richfield police thanked the good Samaritan, Jimmy, for his actions that saved the boy from freezing.

Jimmy could have ignored the boy thinking it was nothing, maybe not have been as observant and this boy would have died because nobody would have found him until morning. He surely would have frozen but he didn’t because Jimmy is an observant, caring resident who called 911 when things didn’t look or feel “right.”
Officer Johnson (and all of us at RPD) want to express gratitude towards Jimmy for saving this boy’s life because he chose to trust his gut and check on this kid. And thanks to all good Samaritans for all you do because cops just can’t be everywhere at once. We save lives when we work together. Thank you!

Image via Kurt Bauschardt, Flickr, used under Creative Commons