A grandfather from Orangeburg County, Columbia, recently made the news after going to school to pick up his young grandson and coming home with a totally different child. It sounds like the plot of a 90’s comedy, but this happened in real life.

On May 19th, 65-year-old Joseph Fuller went to Edisto Primary School in order to pick up his six-year-old grandchild early. According to a police report, when he arrived at the school, Fuller saw a group of students leaving the school gym, one of which he thought was his grandson. He got out of his car, approached the boy, gave him a hug and told him he was there to pick him up early. When he asked him if he was ready to go, the kid said “yes”. A teacher’s assistant later told deputies that when he asked the boy “Was this your grandfather?” he also answered “yes”. So the two of them then went to the front office so the boy could be signed out, and since the grandpa was on the list of approved people to pick up kids, everything went smoothly. If you think this is weird, hold on tight, because it’s about to get weirder.

Once out of the school, Fuller and his fake grandson got in the car, where his wife was waiting for them. Without so much as turning around to look at the child, the woman allegedly handed him a McDonald’s Happy Meal, and then they drove home. It was only when they arrived at their house that the Fullers finally realized that the boy was not their grandchild, after a missing tooth gave him away. “He had a tooth missing in the front, and I know my grandson did not have a tooth missing in the front,” Fuller said. “Immediately, I brought him back to school, and I am very sorry.”

The police report mentions that the two boys “had similarities in haircut style and features, but not in weight or height.” Also, the fake grandchild’s mother admitted “that the [grandfather] resembles her father and saw how her son also mistakenly thought he was indeed his grandfather.”

Although everything got rectified in the end, the boy’s father, Darrin Pressley, didn’t find the whole mixup funny. “If they didn’t bring him back my son could’ve been gone,” Pressley said. “It’s gross negligence on the school’s part. My thing is, you know, have a prevention so this could never happen again.” The bizarre incident has led to changes in the way young children can be picked up from school. Now, students have to verbally identify the person who is picking them up and then the front desk will double check the student’s pick up list for that name. Also, parents will only be able to access the school through the front office, over the summer.

I, for one, still can’t wrap my head around how this grown man mistook a different boy for his grandchild and only realized his mistake based on a missing front tooth. They must not be very close…

via: KPLC TV