Cops: Stranger approaches boy waiting for bus

A stranger in a car offered a Tootsie Roll to a Center Moriches youngster Thursday morning, an incident being investigated by police, authorities said.

The boy, 9, was outside his Wagon Wheel Lane home, waiting for a bus to the Clayton Huey Elementary School, when a driver in a black sedan approached him about 8 a.m., said Suffolk police and Russell Stewart, superintendent of the Center Moriches school district.

"When the stranger offered him a Tootsie Roll, the student ran to his house and the incident was reported to police," Stewart said in a message sent to parents.

Police said the car left right away. The Seventh Precinct crime section is investigating.

It's the second time in a week that a driver has approached a young boy in Brookhaven Town, and Suffolk police are investigating both cases.

On Monday, an 8-year-old boy waiting for the school bus in Manorville was offered a ride by a stranger in a white vehicle, authorities said. The Eastport Elementary School student ran to a neighbor's house for help and arrived for classes safe on his bus, the superintendent of the Eastport-South Manor Central school district said in a message to parents that day.

Stewart urged parents to talk to their children about what they should do when strangers approach.

"Our students are regularly taught, and were reminded today, to be on guard for suspicious behavior, unwarranted or unsolicited contact," the superintendent's message said, "and we review safety procedures for situations in which a supervising adult may not be present."