Boy Found Handcuffed in basement

Boy Handcuffed to Pole Since September

Some stories are hard to report, this is definitely one of them.  I’ve heard many stories in my life about the cruelty of human beings, and I have never been able to forget about them.  They make no sense.  There is no possible way I can understand how someone’s mind could work that way.

A seventeen year old boy was found handcuffed to a support pole in the basement of a Kansas City home.  In a police report released Wednesday, officers described the victim as dressed in dirty clothes and his “face was sunken in on the sides and his eyes had a look of desperation.”

The boy told officers he had been there since last September, and was unlocked only 3 times a day to go to the bathroom.  The only food he received was instant oatmeal, top ramen, and bologna sandwiches.

Neighbors said the boy was mentally challenged, and were very saddened when they saw him taken away in an ambulance.  They said they were certain that he had long been abused by his stepmother and father.  One neighbor reported the suspected abuse and called the Missouri Department of Social Services hot line.  The victim’s older brother told them that he had hit his mother and was “on permanent house arrest”.

When school friends came by to ask why he hadn’t been at school, his stepmother told them he was out of town.

The boy was taken to a hospital, treated, and placed in custody of the Clay County Children’s Division.  A 2-year-old child also living at the residence was placed in state custody, authorities said.

Police would not comment on what charges may be filed because the case is still under investigation.

James Turnage

Columnist-The Guardian Express