Posted on 01/17/2007 11:09:39 AM PST by rawhide
LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A 9-year-old boy with a history of stealing cars and running away sneaked onto a plane bound for Texas, getting caught after flubbing an airport connection, officials said.
Semaj Booker apparently found a Southwest Airlines boarding card and made it through airport security Tuesday, hopping two separate flights but landing in San Antonio, Texas — short of his Dallas destination, police said.
"The only thing I have to offer on that is that were looking into it," Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin said.
The fourth-grader remained Wednesday in juvenile custody in San Antonio. He had been trying to get to his grandfather in Dallas, where he used to live.
The boy was unhappy after his family moved to Lakewood, outside Tacoma. His odyssey began Sunday when he stole a car that was left running outside a neighbor's house, only to be spotted by police near the interchange of Interstate 5 and State Route 512.
Police pursued Semaj at speeds up to 90 mph until he took an exit and the engine blew, after which the car went over a curb and coasted into a tree. He refused to come out of the car, so officers broke a window to unlock a door and immediately recognized him as a frequent runaway and car thief, Lakewood police Lt. David B. Guttu said.
Last month he also crashed a stolen car before being caught by police in Tacoma, and more recently he was caught in Seattle in a stolen car that had run out of gas, said his mother, Sakinah Booker.
She believes he learned to drive from playing video games on a PlayStation.
Booker said she had hoped to soon move her four sons back to Dallas, but Semaj grew tired of waiting.
Semaj was "incredibly motivated to get to Texas," Guttu said. "He doesn't want to live in Washington state."
Booker said her son dislikes the neighborhood where the family lives and is afraid of a sex offender who lives nearby.
"He does not like it here at all," she said.
The enterprising young Semaj is nine. I would lay odds that he has never seen a newscast in his life.
I think more a TV show "Samaj Tries to..." I bet this guy could get to Bin Laden if we gave him enough technology.
What a bitch. How about moving your son away from the pedophile you lazy creep!
As the bumper sticker says: "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could"!
...and a former car thief.
I wonder if a few good swats applied to his backside when he got home would be appropriate...
Because if I did this...(In my day) I had better hope that my cuteness reigned in one of the cute (Southwest hotpants) stewardesses (yes thats what they used to call them when I flew un-accompanied) would have taken me home and just dunked me in her coffee...
Yes I did have a bit of an ego when I was that age...And I was extremely cute...
I just don't know what happened to me after that phase...
Maybe it was the spankings...Yep...Thats what it was...
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How did he get to the airport and hop a plane to Texas?
I asked myself the same thing.
Horrible news writing, inn't it?
Just a passing thought.
A 9-year-old Lakewood boy who ran away to Texas this week via Southwest Airlines was issued a boarding pass at Sea-Tac Airport after he gave an airline employee the name of a person listed on the flight manifest, a spokesman for Democratic Congressman Norm Dicks said Wednesday night.
Semaj Booker told a ticket checker near a security gate at the airport Monday that he had lost his boarding pass, said Dicks spokesman George Behan, who obtained the information Wednesday from Transportation Security Administration officials at the congressman’s request.
That person took Semaj to a Southwest Airlines ticket agent, where the boy provided a name of a man who’d already been issued a boarding pass for the flight to Phoenix, he said.
The agent printed a boarding pass for the boy, who went through security and boarded the flight, which eventually ended up in San Antonio. He was taken into custody there.
“A 9-year-old kid slips through and it makes you think there are probably some holes in the system that need to be plugged,” Behan said.
Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Beth Harbin said Wednesday night she couldn’t confirm the story.
Earlier Wednesday, Southwest Airlines had said Semaj approached a ticket counter, told an agent he was 12 and that his mother was waiting in a boarding area, according to a statement from the airline.
“The young man’s information matched a paid ticketless reservation for the flight,” the company said. “Based on the information he gave us, he was issued a boarding pass. That is the boarding pass he used to board the flight.”
Semaj was not listed as an unaccompanied minor because he told airline staff he was 12, Southwest said. The company’s policy for unaccompanied minors covers children ages 5 through 11.
source:http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/updates/story/6327885p-5516140c.html
His odyssey began Sunday when he stole a car that was left running outside a neighbor's house, only to be spotted by police near the interchange of Interstate 5 and State Route 512. Police pursued Semaj at speeds up to 90 mph until he took an exit and the engine blew, after which the car went over a curb and coasted into a tree. He refused to come out of the car, so officers broke a window to unlock a door and immediately recognized him as a frequent runaway and car thief, Lakewood police Lt. David B. Guttu said.
Uh... so he got away, or what? What does this have to do with the airline flights? How is this the beginning of his "odyssey"?
Journalists suck.
Maybe Manual?
Sigh. With all due respect, I think you're reacting emotionally.
The kid is obviously good at conning people. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he made up the bit about the child molester to try and make people feel sorry for him. The kid knows how to lie, drive a car at high speeds around spike strips, has a history of car theft, etc. Kids like that know how to use their age to their advantage.
To clarify:
I'm not saying there wasn't a sex offender in the area. I'm saying he might have used the bit about the offender to his advantage. He probably heard mom talk about it and figured he could use it as an excuse. I think it's perfectly clear that the kid knows how to make people feel sorry for him.
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