Fear struck on the porch of a Utah family as a 10-year-old ran for his life from a car full of unknown men.
The boy, Grayden Dowland, usually makes the trip from his basketball coach’s house to his family at least three times a week. The 200-foot commute has been made dozens of times, but this time it was met with peril on Thursday when Grayden felt something was different.
“I started walking home and there was two guys in a car” Grayden said.
The young boy realized he was being stalked by the car full of thugs when he turned the corner and noticed an unknown vehicle slowly creep up behind him.
Three men, all strangers, approached Grayden from the white four-door sedan and greeted him nonchalantly. They then told him they had candy in the backseat and he should get in.
The harrowing experience seemed like a nightmare for poor Grayden.
The insanely tense moment was videotaped by the family’s doorbell camera. You can see the car from a distance slowly trying to inch their way closer to Grayden’s porch to lure him in.
Grayden approaches his front door and makes sure to never lose track of the perpetrators behind him. He made sure to act like he was unsuspecting by peeking his view every so often to not make any sudden behaviors that would cause the situation to worsen.
The video continues as Grayden approaches his front door and is immediately appalled by what he experiences. The front door was locked!
“I thought I was going to be kidnapped,” said Grayden. “I picked up rocks and I was holding them like this…If they got any closer, I was going to throw them.”
Grayden did just that. As the men in the car slowly crept closer to Grayden, the brave boy took the rocks in his hands and hurled them as hard and far as he could in attempts to scare the men away as best as possible.
Right when Grayden noticed he was making some separation, he rolled right over to his neighbor’s house right next door for safety.
Grayden said he saw the door was open so he ran in and closed the door and locked it. Despite finding a new safe haven, his pursuers weren’t ready to give up the chase just yet. The video depicts the crazed men sitting outside his neighbor’s driveway for minutes!
The young boy’s father, David Dowland, was at a loss of words for his son’s nightmarish experience.
“It was really real,” Dowland said. “I saw the video and it’s gut-wrenching. We’ve been here for fourteen years and to have this happen to your front doorstep, its’s an eye-opener,”
The thought of not being able to walk at least 200 feet or about two doors down your own home without fearing for your safety is really a scary one. Something needed to be done.
Ever since the traumatic incident, David plans to use the buddy system to make sure that their kids are never alone and feel safe all the time. Additionally, he’s making sure a parent or his coach accompanies Grayden home every time he finishes practice.
Moments like these can be truly scary for everyone involved
The Dowlands have filed a police report with Riverton police. The young boy described the harassers as three men in their 30’s or 40’s with no facial hair in a white 4-door sedan. Grayden’s experience should be a reminder that one should never be too careful about having their young ones walking home alone, even if it’s from a short distance.
If you or anyone have any more information on this incident, call Riverton Police at 385-281-2455.
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