Byram father catches the bus and trouble as well

Byram - He might have missed the bus. He might have been a few minutes late to the stop and his first-grade daughter would have found another way home from school. Maybe then, Glenn Dudziec might not have had a story to tell his wife, Jen, afterward and to 6-year-old Madison for many years to come. Let’s just say the Byram resident caught the bus and trouble as well the other day, when he went from father to child abductor to father back again in the span of just a few minutes. Dudziec went to the bus stop on Sparta-Stanhope Road last week as he usually does around 3:30 p.m. to pick up his daughter, who was returning home from the Byram Lakes Elementary School. And as he normally does, Dudziec struggled to convince his daughter that spending the remainder of the afternoon at the family-owned gift shop in Hamburg would be an exciting time well spent. “The kids don’t like to go up there because they believe it’s boring,” said Dudziec, who often brings Madison and her 4-year-old sister along to work at the store. “They don’t want to just sit there.” Eventually, Madison succumbed and entered the car, crying with each step she took. The activity caught the eye of a keen passerby, who called local police. Unaware that his pleadings with his daughter had mobilized police, Dudziec went on with the trip to his store. By the time Dudziec got to Main Street in Sparta, his red Dodge Neon was surrounded by three police cars. They were looking for the child kidnapper reported by the passerby. “I was wondering what’s going on,” said the eight-year Byram resident. But just as quickly as he was stopped, Dudziec was cleared of any wrongdoing and sent on his way. Sussex County’s most recent version of “America’s Most Wanted” had come to an end almost before it had started. “Although it was somewhat of a nuisance to get pulled over, I have to say the Sparta Police did a great job,” said Dudziec. “If this had been a real abduction, they would have been credited with a spectacular job. Sparta residents should know that those officers responded as quickly and professionally as they did.” No harm. No foul. “I’m assuming that someone behind the bus saw Madison carrying on and saw that she didn’t want to go,” said Dudziec. “Both the person who put in the phone call and the police who responded were (right). A lot of people don’t want to get involved, but this person did.” Dudziec doesn’t expect to change his parenting behavior any time soon. He said when Madison carries on and doesn’t want to go to the shop, she’s going to get spoken to again. “When I look back on it, it’s funny,” he said. “When it was happening, it certainly was not.”