New York mother devastated after 2-year-old son walks out of day care, wanders onto street



NEW YORK -- A Bronx mother has a lot of questions for the day care center where she dropped her son off while visiting her mother in the hospital. The first one is likely how he managed to wander away from the building on his own.

"There were so many things going through my mind. I didn’t know what happened,” Curtayasia Taylor said.

The mother of two who got a call Thursday morning, March 14, she’ll never forget. Her 2-year-old son was missing.

Surveillance video from a nearby high school shows 2-year-old Apollo Vaughn walking down West 124th Street in Harlem, all alone. He was supposed to be in day care at St. Benedict’s Day Nursery.

Taylor said she got call from the day care about an hour after she dropped him off, telling her Apollo was missing.

The toddler had reportedly walked out of the day care through a broken door and wandered onto the street.

Thankfully, a good Samaritan spotted the boy trying to cross the street by himself. The woman brought the toddler to the high school a few doors down, where authorities were called, and where Taylor was soon reunited with her son.

“When I got inside, I saw him coloring,” Taylor said.

After the incident, Taylor said she had some things she needed to do.

“The first thing I want is to find the young lady that was nice enough to save my son from being hit by a car. I just wanna give her a hug and thank her so much,” Taylor said.

While Taylor was happy Apollo was safe in her arms, she said she wants to know what happened in the 25 minutes her son was unaccounted for.

“Anything could have happened and the day care hasn’t apologized," Taylor said.

Staff at the day care was not available for comment Saturday. They were closed until further notice.

The Administration for Children's Services is now investigating the incident.