Video showing kids being placed in trunk of car prompts Olathe police inquiry

A video posted to social media showed two children being placed into the trunk of a car and closing the lid.

The vehicle then drives away.

Sgt. Logan Bonney, an Olathe police spokesman, said the incident is being investigated after multiple citizens reported it on Thursday.

He said officers responded to the 800 block of S. Parker St. in Olathe on a report of child endangerment.

Officers investigating the incident viewed the video, and Bonney said police are currently seeking the vehicle and its occupants.

The vehicle is a grey Volkswagen Jetta from the 2000’s with Kansas tag 616KLC, Olathe police said.

The video made the rounds on social media after it was posted on Thursday to the Facebook group Bad Moms of JoCo. It was viewed more than 30,000 times and shared close to 540 times on Facebook by Thursday night.

The video was later removed from the group.

In the group where the video was posted, many called for immediately notifying police in the comment section. Others criticized the person who posted the video.

“More compassionate problem-solving, less drama,” one person wrote.

The woman who posted the video to the Bad Moms of JoCo group wrote in a comment, “I cant [sic] believe the people on the original video that are defending this!! Saying people need to mind their own business and the kids weren’t upset to ride in the trunk. I cant [sic] believe anyone thinks this is ok?!”

She added that she hadn’t been the one who originally recorded the video. She wrote she believed the woman who did record it had notified police and had waited to record the video after seeing the children exit the trunk when they first arrived.

Bonney said it remained unclear Friday morning if the person who captured the video called police, or if only people who saw the video reported it.

“The Olathe Police Department would like to encourage everyone to call 911 immediately upon observing suspicious or dangerous activity rather than solely posting a video on social media,” Bonney wrote in a release. He added by phone, “It’s very important to us that we get there immediately and try to address the situation.”

The officers responding to the area arrived on the scene but could not locate the vehicle in question, Bonney said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Olathe police at 913-971-6950 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Video showing kids being placed in trunk of car prompts Olathe police inquiry."