We always hear “it takes a village” when it comes to raising and protecting kids, but what happens when you’re actually confronted with that responsibility? One man in Detroit is going viral for stepping up and ensuring a little girl made it to school after seeing her walking by herself.
On Monday morning, 36-year-old Joshua Threatt saw a 6-year-old girl walking alone without a hat or gloves. Shocked to see her walking past his home without any supervision, Threatt decided to escort her to school, documenting the moment on Facebook Live.
“She was out here walking by herself. How old are you? Six? Man,” Threatt said in the video. “I ain’t want to put her in my truck, bro, so I got out and walked with her. Made sure she got to where the f*** she’s going.”
After walking with her for 10 blocks, Threatt burst into tears when talking to faculty at Thirkell Elementary School.
“She’s probably scared because she’s been walking for about 10 blocks. She’s probably scared. So many people just pulled up on that little girl. I am so happy I saved her. I am so happy I saved her,” he told the school’s faculty, getting emotional thinking about how dangerous the situation could have been.
As a parent himself, Threatt told news outlets he couldn’t believe what he had seen: “I actually thought about my youngest because my youngest is the same age and I was like this shouldn’t be, like somebody needs to be with her.”
The video from the Facebook live quickly went viral across social media platforms, with users praising Threatt’s actions and questioning the whereabouts of the little girl’s parents.
“It just threw me off cause she was by herself, 6 years old, she needed somebody to be with her,” he later told CBS News Detroit. “I’m getting thank yous from around the world. When I went live, it was people tuning in from everywhere. Texas, Los Angeles, Nebraska, Idaho.”
Since the incident, Threatt has reportedly had a “man-to-man” conversation with the little girl’s father and has allegedly been in touch with her mother, according to a recent Facebook post.
Detroit police and Child Protective Services are reportedly investigating the situation.
