Whilst Chris Villavicencio‘s parents spent part of yesterday afternoon going crazy with fear, their son on the other hand was as he would later describe it, was having the greatest day of his life after he became separated from his family for a period of two hours during an outing at NYC’s Central Park zoo.
Upon finding himself separated from his family, the youngster decided to do what any other fun seeking adventurous young boy would do, that’s right, head straight mid-town and check out and marvel the area’s skyscrapers.
It wasn’t until cops picked him up the NJ youngster that the youth’s short adventure came to a close, but Chris Villavicencio would also admit (what 9 year old boy wouldn’t?) getting to see the inside of a police station was an adventure all to and of itself,
Told the errant boy via the nydailynews: ‘This was the greatest day of my life, because this was the first day I was at the police station!’
‘I tried to find my parents, but I couldn’t,’
Instead of staying in the same place until his parents found him, the youngster who is mildly autistic decided to try and track down his parents himself.
On his adventure Chris left the zoo at E.64th St. and started wandering down towards Times Square.
He used buildings he had seen before on television to navigate.
He was eventually stopped by two NYPD officers at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and they took him.
Meanwhile, back at the zoo, his panicked parents, Peruvian natives who did not speak English had reported Chris as missing.
Luckily, Chris and his parents were reunited within the hour after police returned him to Central Park.
When he got out of the police cruiser, his father, Freddy Villavicencio, clutched him tightly and wept.
The child then hugged his little sister.
‘Remember,‘ he told her. ‘Don’t wander off.’
Ahh memories of when this former 9 year old author spent the whole day walking along the city promenade to his giddy delight rather than taking to school after suddenly arriving at the whimsical notion of ditching school that morning. Of course the tears were all on my side when cops later to came to find me that evening and return me to my chagrined parents. Oh youth….
