Parents were haunted to hear yesterday of the murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky – and questioning their own decisions to ever leave children alone.
Ruchama Bistritzky-Clapman, founder and director in Flatbush-based Mothers and Fathers Aligned Saving Kids, said their help lines were inundated by frightened parents, some whose children knew Kletzky.
“Most of the questions are, ‘What do we tell our children, and how do we know what to tell them for, do they walk alone? What about the person that the kid knows, does that meant they can’t say hello to anybody?” she said.
Christine Krawiec, who lives on 20th Street, where remains were found, says she never lets her child walk home from school. “It’s a mother’s worst nightmare.”
Susan Desocio lit a candle nearby, saying she has walked the area since she was 10 and was shocked “someone got messed with.”
Heidi Flanagan, a Park Slope mother, said she was rethinking a plan to let her daughter, now 6, walk the two blocks to school in four years, when she will be 10.
“It does seem a little scarier,” she said.
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