The mother of a 6-year-old boy is not happy with the Apple Tree Child Development Center in Riverside after her son ran off from the facility and ended up at a gas station about a half-mile away.
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Donovan's jaunt occurred Wednesday afternoon.
"I was startled," his mother, Autumn Fetterman, told News Center 7's James Buechele on Thursday evening. "I said my gosh I can't believe this happened."
The boy wasn't injured and Fetterman said she's thankful for that. She blames the staff for allowing the incident to happen.
Donna Jacques, the child care center administrator, said Donovan was having a "bad day" and was brought to her office by a teacher who was supervising him. He apparently kept complaining that he wanted to go home, Jacques said, and didn't want to be there anymore.
"When they told him he was not going home, he got up and ran out of the office," Jacques said.
Jacques said she and five teachers then pursued Donovan as he ran up the road.
"The child was never out of reach of the staff," she said. "He was never out of sight of the staff."
Donovan has been expelled from the center because of the incident and because his actions took teachers away from other children, Jacques said.
Two gates have been added to the facility recently, she said.
Fetterman, who said the teachers and staff at the center didn't show any remorse for what happened, is taking the boy to a new child care center on Monday.
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