The first day of third grade turned out to be quite memorable for a young Hillsborough County student.
He got to have pizza with an entire squad of deputies after he got lost on his way home.
“I was backing into a parking spot at Westshore Pizza and I saw this child across the street,” said Deputy Mike Diaz.
On his way to lunch with his squad, Deputy Diaz noticed a young boy.
“He looked lost. He was holding his phone, just walking around in circles,” said the deputy.
The 9-year-old, named Christian, had just left Egypt Lake Elementary.
He was supposed to walk home, but didn’t follow the path his mom told him to take.
“He actually told me that they practiced the walk twice before the first day of school. And his mom texted him step by step directions. He ended up opening the step by step directions after he’d missed a couple of turns. So he got lost,” said Deputy Diaz.
That little third grader almost made it to busy Dale Mabry Highway. Luckily, Deputy Diaz spotted him, got him out of harm’s way, and then, he had a pleasant surprise for him.
Deputy Diaz phoned Christian’s mother, who told him, she was 15 to 20 minutes away.
So, he invited Christian to join them for lunch.
A sheriff’s office tweet of their meal has gone viral. The student’s smiling mother can be seen smiling, standing behind her son.
While Christian looks happy here, in the pictures, earlier, he had an entirely different attitude.
“I got four kids so I know what a lost kid looks like,” said Deputy Diaz.
“I’m happy it turned out the way it did,” he said.
It’s safe bet Christian will be getting some additional help navigating from Egypt Lake Elementary to his home so this doesn’t happen again.