Norfolk Assistant Chief Probation Officer
Removes Boy Out of Harm’s Way

The parents of a special needs boy have two Probation employees to thank for saving their son's life.

Norfolk Juvenile Court Assistant Chief Probation Officer Christopher Aylward and Stephen Fratalia, Director of Resource Management in the Office of the Commissioner of Probation, were traveling to a probationer's house to hook up the electronic bracelet, when a nine-year-old autistic boy ventured into their path on Route 1, a high-speed highway also known as the "Automile."

The SUV Fratalia and Aylward were traveling behind quickly swerved out of the way of an object in its path. Fratalia, who came within 10-feet of the young boy, was also forced to swerve his car to avoid hitting the child.

"We were heading down Route 1 south towards Gillette Stadium going about 30 or 40 miles an hour when we came upon a young boy, who appeared to be about 8 or 9 years old, in the middle of a high speed lane heading north on the highway. He could have been killed," said Fratalia.

Aylward said, "I have seen a lot in probation and you see a lot in life. This was something that we certainly didn’t expect. He was jogging down a major highway. There were a number of cars on the highway and the traffic was definitely moving at a good clip."

Risking injury or worse, Aylward immediately jumped out of the car and grabbed the child and moved him out of the way of oncoming traffic. Fratalia and another motorist jumped out of their cars to redirect traffic before pulling over to the breakdown lane where Aylward had taken the child.

"We tried to make sure that he was calm and make sure that he would not bolt across the highway," Aylward said.

Dressed in a nylon football jacket, the child was about four-feet tall and weighed less than 100 pounds. The young boy was unable to tell Aylward and Fratalia his name and he had no identification.

"He was incapable of communicating who he was," said Fratalia.

Aylward said, "When we encountered this child, he had no idea of the danger he was in. When we asked him his name, he just looked skyward."

They called the state police who put them in touch with the local police in Walpole. Shortly after the police responded, two employees from the child's school arrived on the scene and identified him as their student.

Fratalia and Aylward learned that the child had walked a half mile from his school and had been missing for about an hour. The child and his classmates were on a nature walk near the school when he wandered off exiting an unlocked gate which was in walking distance of a path that led to the busy highway.