BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A 14-year-old boy from Buffalo was killed in a crash at Elmwood Avenue and Amherst Street over the weekend.
Police said he was driving a stolen vehicle at a high rate of speed went through a red light and crashed into two other vehicles.
The story has generated a larger discussion on social media, with many voices sounding off on who they think should be held responsible. Some who sounded off pointed the finger at the parents.
One Buffalo mother is pushing back against that viewpoint, offering a perspective you may not have heard before.
Raymonda Reynolds said she has experience trying to keep her own child out of trouble with law enforcement and shared her story with me.
"They were saying, 'Where are the parents?' I saw that so many times," said Reynolds. "'The parents ought to go to jail', 'The parents are letting these children run wild' and it angered me."
Reynolds said she is angry and terrified. She fears what happened to that 14-year-old could happen to her 15-year-old son. She said along with his father they are doing everything they can to get him to turn his life around.
"We're right here, and my kid has a support system," said Reynolds. "He has both sides of his family. Nobody's on drugs. Nothing of that nature."
Reynolds reached out to me after seeing those comments about parents online and we had a very honest conversation about what it's like when your child keeps getting in trouble with the law.
"I have been through him running away, him getting caught stealing out in the community, him violent, not going to school," said Reynolds. "I've called the police so many times...they'll say to me, well there's nothing we can do."
"When my son stole the car, I said, 'Well, can't you take him to East Ferry? Something? Scare him a little bit?' He said no," Reynolds explained.
The same goes for the agencies that are supposed to help, they said there is nothing they can do, and Reynolds said the teens know it.
"They don't have consequences and they know this," said Reynolds. "They know this, the system has taken parenting away from us."
She's pleading for someone to do something.
"I don't want my son in prison, I don't want my son in a cemetery," said Reynolds. "The laws need to be changed. They need to be changed."
I took her plea to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia and he agreed with her.
"A 14-year-old should not be dead in a car accident, should not be dead in any encounter like this, the laws are against us…I've said that many times as well," said Gramaglia.
Reynolds hopes someone has a way to fix this before another tragedy strikes.
