BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A West Palm Beach man was arrested Wednesday after he kidnapped a 12-year-old boy who was walking home from school in Boynton Beach, police said.
Timothy Miller, 26, faces charges of kidnapping, child neglect and resisting arrest without violence.
Witnesses told Boynton Beach police they saw a boy jump out of a white truck on Hypoluxo Road. The truck didn't stop, so the witnesses followed it south onto Interstate 95 all the way to the Gateway Boulevard exit, where they blocked the truck in and detained the driver until police arrived.
According to a Boynton Beach police report, the boy said he had just gotten off the school bus and was headed east when a white truck approached and the driver, later identified as Miller, offered him a ride.
The boy told police Miller told him "he gives kids rides all the time and not to worry because he won't do anything weird." The boy said Miller "seemed nice and had a friendly smile," so he decided to get in the truck.
However, once the boy was along for the ride, Miller "began looking at him strangely, making him feel uncomfortable, and began driving erratically by almost running off the roadway."
When the boy tried to open the door to get out, Miller told him "he was not allowed to leave" and accelerated, police said.
The boy was scared, so he jumped out of the moving truck and fell to the pavement, knocking him unconscious, police said.
When questioned by police, Miller claimed he approached the boy in an attempt to buy drugs, according to the report.