From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
CLAY — UPDATED: The family of the man in the blue pickup truck told the Tribune that he was not following the child, but just lost.
The wife of the driver spoke to the Tribune Saturday and said that it was her husband in the truck, and that he had been out looking at property when he got lost and pulled in the driveway to turn around. The family wishes to remain anonymous.
“He wouldn’t hurt a fly,” the wife said. “In fact, he would probably hurt anyone who he thought was hurting a child.”
The driver’s wife said that a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy visited their home around 4 p.m. on Friday and her husband explained that he was just turning around in the driveway.
“I would have thought they would have contacted the family and let them know everything was okay,” she said.
REPORTED EARLIER: The family of a Clay-Chalkville Middle School seventh grade student was concerned after they thought a man in a blue pickup truck followed their 12-year-old to his Goodner Mountain home from his school bus stop on Friday.
“My grandson rides the school bus home and a man in a blue truck waited for him to get off the school bus and followed him down our long drive way and it terrified him,” Brenda Long said. “You can see him running to his house as the man kept following him knowing this child was running for his safety.”
Though the family does not know the man’s intentions, Long said they hope to alert other families to be aware of the situation and keep their children safe.
Grainy video of the incident shows the blue pickup truck behind the student as he runs home. When the child reached his home, the truck turned around to leave.
Long said the man in the truck never said anything to the 12-year-old. She said the seventh grader’s 15-year-old brother would normally be with him, but the older child was home sick. Long said the family filed a report about the incident with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.