4 Children Wander Out Of Norman Child Care Center Through Fence, Police Say

The father of one of the four preschool-age children who wandered out of a child care facility on Tuesday in Norman said his daughter wanted to get candy from a business across a busy street.

Rory Quigley said his 4-year-old daughter was among four kids who were found a way out of Bright Start Early Education Center on McGee Drive. 

Norman Police said it happened at about 11:16 a.m. Tuesday. Police said the children likely got out of the child care facility through a spot in the fence. They then crossed traffic. 

"She said she went through the traffic and she said cars stopped," Quigley said.

Officers found the kids, who were safely returned to Bright Start, police said. The officers also fixed the area of the fence that was compromised.

Police believed this was an isolated incident.

"We also do not have a history of complaints of this nature to our agency," Sarah Schettler, public information officer for the Norman Police Department, said.

Quigley said his 4-year-old daughter walked from the child care center to a Dollar Tree store about a fifth of a mile away because the little girl wanted to see her mother and get candy.

"It stressed me out. I felt like (the fence) should have been, like, fixed sooner," Quigley said. "I felt like they should have been watched a little bit more properly so they weren't going in the middle of the street." 

News 9 reached out to Bright Start and received the following response:

"We had an isolated incident (Tuesday) morning involving a few preschool age children, not toddlers, that has been resolved," said Bright Start Program Director Brandy Madden in a statement. "Our team initiated our emergency plan and executed it quickly. The children are safe. We are committed to high quality child care and are continually exploring prevention protocols. The safety of our children is our utmost concern."

Madden added that Bright Start reinforced the fence, which was recently installed by a company in Norman.

News 9 also talked with the mother of the 4-year-old girl. Although she declined to be on camera, she said Bright Start has been good to her children.

Meanwhile, Quigley said he had a talk with his daughter.

"I told her just don't do that again. She should not cross the street without using crosswalks and if she wants to go home, she should tell daddy, mommy or the day care," Quigley said. "She's awesome. She's cool. She should never do that again and I'll make sure she doesn't do something like that again."

News 9 checked with the businesses in that area for videos of the incident. But they said none was available.