A 4-year-old Massachusetts boy was recovered safely by police after his parents accidentally left him in a taxi after getting a ride home from Boston Logan International Airport on Wednesday night.
Weston police received a call shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday from the boy's parents saying they had left their son in a minivan-style taxi cab after they got a ride home from Logan Airport, according to state police.
The family had arrived at the airport on a United Airlines flight and after being dropped off at home by the taxi, each parent thought the other had taken the boy into the house, state police said. Several other children in the family were also in the taxi and were brought inside by their parents.
Weston police contacted state police at Logan Airport, who worked with Massport to identify and locate the taxi driver. They were ultimately able to determine that the taxi was owned by PAUL Taxi Inc. and tracked down the taxi at a parking lot in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood around 7:45 p.m.
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State police, Boston police and Boston EMS all responded to the address and found the child, who was unharmed. Police said the driver stores his taxi in the lot and had gone home to Lawrence.
"About 20 police officers were there last night," driver Jean Paul told NBC10 Boston.
Paul says he picked up the boy's family and drove them to their Weston home. He helped them with their luggage and looked in the back, but didn't see anything and kept going.
"I don't know how this happened, because I checked the car," he said.
Paul said he parked his cab on Temple Street in Boston and was on his way home to Lawrence when authorities tracked him down and called him.
"Boston Police let me open the door for him, he took a look at the backseat, he saw the child laid down on the backseat," Paul said.
The child was brought to a local police station, where he was reunited with his father.
Based on interviews with the family and Paul, police determined that the child was accidentally left on the taxi and was asleep the whole time. State police said they were working with Boston police to determine whether the taxi driver should be cited for failing to check his taxi at the end of his shift as required.
"The recovery of the little boy was a great team effort by multiple agencies, Troopers, officers, and dispatchers and Massport personnel, and everyone involved felt a sense of overwhelming relief once the child was located and found to be safe," state police spokesman David Procopio said in a statement.
