Deputy brings gifts, cake and an impromptu parade to lost boy who had no birthday celebration

When a Spokane Valley deputy found a young teen who had run away from a children’s home, the deputy bought him dry clothes and books before several other deputies arranged to drive by the 13-year-old boy’s hospital in a miniparade, according to a Spokane Valley Police Department news release.

At about 8:30 a.m. Monday, an employee at the Walmart at 5025 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley reported to dispatch they had found a young boy shaking with cold and waiting for his parents, who he said were coming from Seattle to pick him up, the release said.

Deputy Skye Ortiz arrived and discovered the 13-year-old boy had been outside for hours. Initially, Oritz suspected the boy had been abandoned, but with the name the boy provided, computer searches led to nothing, according to the release.

He told Ortiz he had been living on the streets while his parents lived in Seattle. He also said he missed his birthday, the release said.

Ortiz asked store employees to pick out some clothes, books and other items that Ortiz then purchased for the boy, before he was transported to Multicare Valley Hospital to be medically evaluated, the release said.

On the way to meet the boy at the hospital, Ortiz picked up a birthday cake. At the hospital, after hospital staff rolled the boy’s bed outside, several other deputies drove by in their patrol cars with their emergency lights on in an impromptu parade, according to the release.

Child Protective Services staff learned the child had been providing a previous last name and was meant to be living at a juvenile home. The boy was reported as a runaway on Saturday evening , two days before the Walmart employee called police, the release said.

CPS took custody of the juvenile and informed the children’s home of the boy’s relocation, according to the release.