Local children, lured away from the safety of their parents’ side by a stranger.
We drill into our children's heads when they're little about the dangers of talking to people they don't know, but does it stick? You'd be shocked.
In an Action News Jax investigation conducted in a controlled environment, with a half dozen cameras and their parents looking on, Action News Jax law and safety expert and former FBI agent Dale Carson gave us a startling reminder of just how vulnerable our children are.
It's a sunny day at a neighborhood park as the children play; Carson searches for his lost dog.
"Hey, has anybody seen my dog?" Carson asks the kids.
Right away, the kids are interested.
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Despite one boy’s warning that Carson was a stranger, a half dozen children followed him away, far away from the park and their parents.
Nine-year-old Skylar followed them, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Oh my God, my heart was in my toes, I’m speechless," said mom Tiffany Lynch.
Lynch and Corrina Cain couldn't believe it when their kids ran, not just walked away from the relative safety of the park.
"I asked him ‘why did you go with him?’ And he put his head down he knew it was wrong, but he said ‘the dog was so cute,’" Cain said.
"Just the fact that she went so far away and didn’t even turn around, my nephew, he’s yelling ‘stop you don't know him!’ and it didn't even faze their little minds," Lynch said.
Fast forward an hour: Action News Jax morning anchor Dawn Lopez put her 12-year-old twins to the test.
Dwight runs off, while his sister wasn't buying it either.
We put one more child to the test: 4-year-old Ryeslen. Without hesitation, Ryeslen wandered away from the park with a total stranger.
We captured her mom's startled reaction as she looked on.
"I'm scared, I’m disappointed, I don't know who more, in her or myself," said mom Bridgette Bryan.
Despite everything she'd been taught about staying close to mom and away from strangers, Carson was able to walk off with Ryeslen like they were best friends.
"Curiosity is what drives children. It's fun to help and we teach children to be helpful but an evil person can use that against us and that's why the parent is there," Carson said.
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Skylar was the hero of the day.
"You did such a good job!” Carson said.
Action News Jax’s Paige Kelton: “How did you learn about that?”
Skylar: “Because one day we all got sent to the cafeteria at our school and they showed us a video."
His stranger danger training worked, but for the younger kids, Carson said it's important to empower them to act even if it falls outside their comfort zone.
"You don't need to feel badly about calling someone out, hey, stay away from my child. You don't need to feel bad about that," Carson said.
It was a lesson learned for these moms, and hopefully their children too.
"That is your greatest fear as a parent, what is my child going to do," Lopez said.
Skylar really was the hero, he went so far as to physically try to block the other kids from going. That's a response we can all teach our children, to not worry about hurting someone's feelings, trust your gut and get away and help others get away.
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