Boy left in van is found crying on streets

Repository / Stan Myers SAFE AT HOME. Aire’Yon Gonzalez sits between his parents, Henry and Darshanette Zachery, in their northeast Canton home. The 5-year-old boy was found wandering the streets near Market Avenue on Friday, after falling asleep in a day-care van. His concerned parents say Aire’Yon is fine physically, but he’s having trouble sleeping at night since his unwanted adventure.

By VERONICA VAN DRESS Repository staff writer

CANTON — Two teachers with the Northeast Community Center’s latchkey program are suspended and the parents of a 5-year-old say their son can’t sleep after being left in a van — and then wandering the streets, lost, for about two hours Friday night.

Henry and Darshanette Zachery of Willowrow Avenue NE say their son, Aire’Yon Gonzalez, was harmed emotionally by his experience. The driver who was supposed to return him to the center after a field trip to the North Canton Skate Center didn’t notice he’d fallen asleep. She went home, and when he awoke, he left the van.

Community Center officials apologized but would say little Monday. City Prosecutor Frank Forchione is investigating the matter.

A woman walking her dog near her home on Warrick Place NE found the child. “He was very upset and I could tell he’d been crying,” said Beth Clark. “He kept screaming, ‘Mommy! Mommy!’ ”

She called police. The Zachery family filed a complaint with the city law department Monday, claiming child neglect and child endangerment.

“No one took a head count. No one realized he wasn’t inside the facility,” said Henry Zachery, the child’s stepfather.

“Someone could have kidnapped him from the skating center. After police called my wife and said they had our son, my wife thought they were joking. She said, ‘My son is at the latchkey program.’ My wife started to panic because she didn’t know what was wrong.”

Darshanette Zachery said the chilling phone call at 5:52 p.m. Friday was like a nightmare that sent the five-months-pregnant mom rushing to the scene to retrieve her son.

“I was just so upset and stressed,” she said Monday, after filing a report with the city prosecutor’s office. “You think your child is one place, and to have a phone call that says they have him in custody ... All I could think of was the traffic and that it was dark.”

She and Henry Zachery said their son was dropped off at the 25th Street NE center at 7:20 a.m. Friday. A roller skating field trip was scheduled for that day, and the children were taken in vans. Henry Zachery said Aire’Yon fell asleep on the way back to the center around 4 p.m. with other children sitting around him. When everyone left the van, the sleeping child was left behind.

“One hour later, the staff member got off work because her shift was over and drove the van home with our son still in the back,” said Zachery. “She went inside her house and never noticed him.”

The van, with little Aire’Yon inside, was parked on Colonial Boulevard facing Market Avenue NE. No one is sure exactly when the child awoke, left the van and began walking toward Market Avenue.

He saw the passing cars. He saw people. But no one seemed to notice him.

Aire’Yon knew he was lost and turned around, heading into the neighborhood. That may have been a decision that kept him from physical harm.

“We had a long talk with him that night,” said his stepfather. “He told us he was crying and kicking the snow around and throwing his scarf on the ground out of frustration because no one was helping him. He just kept walking.”

Finally someone stopped to help. Clark was walking her dog, Lego, when she noticed the child on Colonial Boulevard near Market Avenue.

“When I was coming down Colonial I saw him and the first thing I thought was, ‘Who would let their child play near Market?’ Then as I got closer I could hear him calling for his mommy,” said Clark.

Aire’Yon played with Lego and that seemed to calm him while Clark called police to report a lost child.

“Me and my dog take the same path every day, and he just happened to be on our path,” said Clark. “We weren’t going to go that day because it was really cold out but my dog likes snow. I was just glad that I was out walking my dog.”

By that time, Henry Zachery was on his way to the center to pick up his stepson, still unaware that anything was wrong. Aire’Yon was able to give police his phone number so his parents could be notified.

“I was crying when I got there,” said Darshanette Zachery. “I basically just hugged him, and we just held tight. We needed to get him in the car and get him warm. His pants were all wet from the snow, and he was very cold and extremely hungry.”

Jalene Robert, administrator of the community center, apologized for the incident.

“The only thing we’re allowed to say right now is that two teachers are under investigation and under suspension,” she said. “We’re very sorry it happened, but it’s being investigated and I can’t comment further.”

Forchione said he’ll talk with all the parties involved, the Zachery family, Community Center operators and the driver of the van before deciding whether charges will be filed.

“I will tell you that the driver feels terrible and that obviously is one of the main punishments you can have, to have that feeling of despair,” said Forchione. “It certainly isn’t a case where there was any intent, and yet a child was put in a very undesirable position.”

Forchione said it’s possible his office could pursue child endangerment charges but that it would be difficult to prove neglect since the boy was not harmed physically.

Aire’Yon’s parents kept their son home from kindergarten Monday because, his mother said, he is having trouble sleeping at night since his ordeal.

“He was pretty shook up and was really scared,” said Henry Zachery. “Over the last few nights, he’s been waking up crying. We haven’t found anything physically wrong with him, but we know emotionally he was hurt by this.”

Darshanette Zachery was taking her son to the doctor and to a counselor Monday. She said she’s looking for a new latchkey program for Aire’Yon.

“We just want to get him back to a normal routine.”

You can reach Repository writer Veronica Van Dress at (330) 580-8426 or e-mail:

veronica.vandress@cantonrep.com