CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston Police reunited an 11-year-old boy with his family after he drove alone from the Upstate to the Lowcountry.
According to Charles Francis with the Charleston Police Department, the boy traveled nearly 200 miles from Simpsonville to Charleston early Monday morning.
Francis said Officer Christopher Braun was in his cruiser on Rutledge Avenue around 12:30 a.m. when a motorist pulled up next to him. The driver and sole occupant was an 11-year-old boy.
He told Officer Braun he had just driven three hours from Simpsonville and was lost.
The boy told the officer he took his brother’s car and drove to Charleston to live with an unknown male he met on the social media app Snap Chat.
He said his father’s tablet lost the GPS signal that was directing him to the address in Charleston. He told police he lost the address and was unable to recover it because Snap Chat messages disappear after they are read.
Officer Braun contacted the boy’s father in Simpsonville and told him he was in Charleston. The father was in the process of reporting his son missing with the Simpsonville Police Department.
Francis said the father and his other son drove to the Lowcountry to pick up the 11-year-old and the other vehicle.
The Charleston Police Department is looking into the case.
