Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv with Azrieli towers
Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv with Azrieli towersMiriam Alster/Flash 90

A couple from Tel Aviv held an autistic child soon to become 8 years old by force after they spotted him walking barefoot among the busy lanes of the South Ayalon Highway, Israel Hayom reported this morning.

Only a full 43 minutes later did a police car arrive to pick up the boy whose parents had reported his absence. The policeman told the couple, "Just this moment I received word of the incident."

"I gave the child my phone to call, but he went into YouTube and listened to songs and calmed down a bit," Micky told Israel Hayom. "All this time, for 43 minutes, we called the police six times and begged them to send a patrol car.

"The police asked me to be available because they wanted to question me, and I did receive three calls, each time with the same questions: 'Where exactly are you, what happened, what, is he really running into the road?' ... No, I just invented the story because we are just before Shabbat and I'm bored," the man sarcastically chided.

"When we realized we would receive Shabbat with the child on the Ayalon freeway, we thought we would go to the police station ourselves," Micky said. "When a patrol car finally arrived after 43 minutes, the policeman said he had received the call just a minute ago.I really wonder, where are the police when you really need them?"