Quincy applauds people for finding runaway

QUINCY — Two Quincy police officers and two brothers were commended for help finding a 14-year-old runaway girl in July.

The police department presented officers Julie Fuller and Jorge Trujillo, and brothers Anthony and David Ramos, with commendations during a recent city council meeting.

Anthony and David Ramos were returning from Wenatchee, when they spotted a girl hitchhiking on the side of the road, Capt. Gene Fretheim read for the commendation. They decided to give her a ride into the city.

“The girl told the Ramos brothers that she was going to San Francisco,” he read. “The brothers offered to pay for a motel room and convinced the girl to spend the night in Quincy.”

David Ramos paid for the room and the brothers contacted police. Trujillo and Fuller met with the girl and discovered she had run away because she didn’t want to go on a trip to Lake Chelan with her family because she wanted to hang out with her friends, Fretheim said.

“The officers phoned the parents, who responded immediately. The officers had an opportunity to council the young girl while they were waiting for the parents to arrive,” he said. “When the parents arrived they counseled them as well.”

Maureen Poirier wrote to Fuller thanking her for speaking to them and her daughter, stating she gave them hope the girl could feel better.

“You had a very kind way of letting us know it’s OK for kids her age to want to spend her time away from us,” Poirier wrote in an e-mail. “Because of you we were able to talk to (the girl) on the way home and work a lot of things out. Then three days later, she went to a Young Life camp and she came home from there a different girl.”

She wrote her daughter is now playing soccer and involved in student government and debate.

“She still likes to be with her friends, but she also spends a lot of time with us,” Poirier stated. “I feel blessed because I know (her daughter) had many angels watching over her that night, from Tony, the guy who called you guys to you and the other officer who helped us help her. Thank you and know you were a hug part of helping a confused girl on her journey through life.”