Mother Abducts Her Son from Elementary School And Ends Up Being Chased By The Police

West Burnett, a 6-year-old boy, was recently abducted from elementary school by his troubled mother – Nisha Burnett Thayer. Thankfully, the situation was handled properly and no one got hurt. The mother, who did not have legal custody over her son, was finally apprehended by law enforcement authorities. They were looking for the boy for about 12 hours. Shortly after, young West was released to his father and his legal guardian – his aunt. West was smiling and was quite happy to return to his dad and his aunt, though he admitted that the whole situation actually scared him a bit.

The whole situation started when West was dropped off at school by his father’s cousin, who walked the child straight into his classroom. Little did he know, Nisha had followed them to school without being noticed. She chose the perfect time, when parents were dropping their children off and she would attract as little attention as possible. But, she then acted frantically and simply walked into the classroom, took the boy and went away. Although the personnel allegedly tried to stop her, she would not listen and told the boy to get in the car and drove away.

Finally, when the law enforcement authorities were notified, they put an Amber Alert on and started an intense search, which eventually allowed them to find Nisha with the boy. Initially, the car was pulled over by the police, but after a short dialogue, Nisha decided to flee the scene so the police was forced to pursuit her. The chase was relatively brief, so very soon Nisha was apprehended.

Thankfully, right after the child was abducted, the police managed to identify the woman as the mother, who had a restraining order due because she posed a threat to the child. The father, William Burnett, also mentioned that his ex-wife was quite a disturbed person. She was homeless, known for living in her car, had a history of drug abuse and a certain mental illness. Clearly, the father and the aunt were very worried about the little West and once the Amber Alert was put into action, they went live to plead with Nisha to give the child back to them because she was not well and could harm the child.

Even though the police acted effectively in this case and managed to get things under control within a relatively short period of time, such cases are happening all too often all over the country. Parents, who do not have parental custody over their children, are somehow managing to find new ways to abduct them, which is a pretty disturbing tendency. Especially if the parent had problems with the law before, was taking drugs or suffered from certain mental illnesses and disorders.

So, is there a way to regulate such behavior and make sure this doesn’t happen in the future? Well, unfortunately, law enforcement officers do not have the right to follow people 24/7, nor do they have the resources, so it really makes it quite challenging to handle the matter effectively. In fact, it is up to the parents themselves to be aware of the possible consequences of such behavior. And, we are not just talking about being chased by the police – just think about how scared the child may be? West’s aunt also mentioned that during his first night home after the chase, he was scared to fall asleep and told them that he could hear his mom in the room. This really is one traumatizing experience and one that no child should go through.

So, before doing anything as dangerous or troubling, it is important to think about how it will affect the child and how difficult it will be for him or her to handle the experience. The police cannot help, though we will do our best.

James Burns, ESQ
Criminal Defense Experts