An 11-year-old Brooklyn kid stormed out of his home after a fight with his mom and went on a five day adventure — eating at Chuck E Cheese and riding the subway all around the city until he was found unharmed Monday in Union Square, authorities said.
Kareem Granton was arguing with his mom about cleaning up after his dog when he took off from his East New York home last Wednesday, police sources said.
He met up with a friend to go to the Atlantic Center Mall in Downtown Brooklyn but when the two were separated, Granton panicked and fled into the subway.
“I was scared,” the boy told reporters as he returned home with his mom Monday afternoon. “I’m alright.”
“I feel great,” said his relieved mom, Precious Granton, 26. “It was painful. I didn’t have my son with me. I didn’t know what happened to him.”
“He was too scared to call me because he was worried he would be in trouble,” she added.
Granton used what little cash he had in his pocket to buy pizza from a Chuck E. Cheese at the mall and proceeded to ride the rails for the next four days.
“I was sort of just walking around,” Kareem said “I went to the 2 train and the 4 and 5 train.”
Somewhere along the boy’s travels, a friendly stranger gave him a stack of Superman comic books that he read to pass time.
“I have some books from somebody that was reading a bunch of books and he gave them to me,” Kareem said. “He told me that he didn’t have anybody to give them to.”
“I was on the train with nothing to do. It got my mind off things”
The unattended boy went unnoticed until Monday around 7:45 a.m., when a woman spotted him riding the 4-train and recognized his face from a missing poster. She alerted a transit cop who was on patrol at the Union Square station.
Officer Dennis Grimm, 36, then hopped onto the train with his German Shepherd partner, Dakota, and asked the boy to follow him.
“He said he had been on the train for two days, though it was probably five,” Grimm said. “He got lost and didn’t know how to get home.”
The compassionate cop then took the hungry kid to a nearby McDonalds and bought him breakfast while they waited for detectives from Brooklyn to arrive.
“He got a McGriddle and orange juice,” Grimm said. “After he ate, he did perk up.”
Grimm said Dakota helped to calm the boy, whom he said had been a little nervous when he first found him.
“He was petting the dog. My canine is very social. I think it helped his nerves to settle,” he said.
Granton was then taken to a Brooklyn police station where cops attempted to retrace his steps over the last five days before reuniting him with his panic stricken mom.
“I just want to thank them for helping me,” Precious Granton said, referring to the straphanger who eyed her son. “I’m really glad that she looked out to see him and I really am just so thankful.”
Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast