REPORT: 3-year-old takes birthday truck for ride - downriver for nearly 8 miles!
We can't remember our third birthday, but we're pretty sure it wasn't as exciting as the big day of a young man from British Columbia, Canada. Demetrius Jones was celebrating The Big 3 with a ride in his battery powered toy pickup truck when he went missing from his family's campground.
After a two hour search, the boy was found floating on top of his toy truck in the Peace River an amazing eight miles away. When rescue volunteers found the boy, he was on his hands and knees on top of the overturned truck in over nine feet of water. The boy, wearing only a t-shirt and diaper, was dry above the knees and other than some minor sun exposure, he was perfectly healthy.
The National Post reported that police were called to the scene and the boy was brought back to his parents in a police car. One observer told the Post that the boy appeared to be more excited about being able to ride in a police car than he was about being rescued. After he returned to the campsite with his amphibious truck (who knew they floated?), he got back behind the wheel that night. Sounds like a future Autoblogger if you ask us.
[Sources: CTV; The Globe and Mail; The National Post]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
steve-o 10:07AM (7/14/2009)
sounds more like a case for Childrens Aid to me!!
poor parenting is the new black!
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nastinupe 12:47PM (7/14/2009)
I find your comment extremely offensive. No need to explain.
Tourian A5 8:12PM (7/14/2009)
Yeah, cuz good parenting equals keeping your child locked in a clean room where no harm can come to him at all.
Ever considered that maybe getting lost as a kid is a valuable learning experience for survival in the real world?
JDM Life 4:09PM (7/14/2009)
Racist Punk.
Mazdamia 5:00PM (7/14/2009)
"black" in the fashion sense, not the skin color people...
the4thheat 12:08AM (7/15/2009)
lol, "is the new black" is an old fashion joke guys not a racist thing.
I agree though the parents did a pretty bad job. No you don't need to keep your kids locked up indoors all the time, but when your kid is still in diapers maybe you shouldn't let him friggin' drive an electric jeep right NEXT TO A FRIGGIN' RIVER unattended.
Somewhat unsurprisingly the top cause of kids dying is actually drowning in swimming pools.
Tim 2:09AM (7/15/2009)
You need to pass a couple of tests and have a license to drive but any freaking idiot can be a mommy or daddy. And plenty of them are.
Erik 10:14AM (7/14/2009)
That is not what I would expect Demetrius Jones to look like.
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matthew 10:33AM (7/14/2009)
My son is has that same complexion as well, his name is also Demetrius.
matthew 10:35AM (7/14/2009)
He doesn't "is has" that complexion. He has that same complexion.
doh!
nastinupe 3:44PM (7/14/2009)
Another racist comment on the same thread. Demetrius is a GREEK name people. It's not a black name. You know, Demeter... the Greek God? Sheeze. What's with you people today? And I thought that car guys were different.
Erik 3:51PM (7/14/2009)
Hey. nastinupe. Lighten up buddy. You're gonna blow a gasket.
Jason 10:25AM (7/14/2009)
As a parent, that is damn scary. Glad he's alright. This could have turned out much worse.
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tyler10c 10:20AM (7/14/2009)
What an awesome story! The kid probably loved every second of it! I cant believe the truck stayed afloat and the kid ended up on the bottom of it almost completely dry!!
Future monster truck ralley participant perhaps??
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bssplayr 10:30AM (7/14/2009)
Sounds to me like a whole lot of odds got beat here...
First, I'm guessing that it must be a reasonably gentle current, for the kid to have stayed on top. The fact that it was overturned suggests that, rather than 'staying dry,' the boys clothes dried out, after several hours in the sun. He would have had to have climbed onto it FROM the water, since it's doubful he rode it into the water on its roof.
He would also have to have stayed pretty still, to keep the truck from rolling over in the water.
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Erik 10:38AM (7/14/2009)
And to top it all off, the truck still ran after the whole ordeal!
SkiD666 2:10PM (7/14/2009)
The Peace is a high volume, fairly large river, so the current is usually fairly strong anyways.
They had lots of rain in the last week, so the level was up with lots of trees and such in the river.
Lucky indeed.
RamblinReck89 10:31AM (7/14/2009)
I don't like the interior. It's all cheap plastic.
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Aloysius Vampa 10:53AM (7/14/2009)
Hahahahahahahahaha.
Oh man. Awesome comment.
UH2L 10:46AM (7/14/2009)
He's smart, (except for the part about driving so far away), calm, cool, collected, and loves to drive. Good to see a happy ending of course.
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