Editorial: Time for Nalani Johnson Rule

Time in a child’s life ticks by fast. A baby grows and changes every day. A week can be the difference between pants that fit and pants that don’t.

And an hour can be the difference between life and death.

On Tuesday, cellphones across the area blared as an Amber Alert was issued at 9:50 a.m. for Damion Mickey, 16, a Connellsville kid who was discovered to be missing as police investigated a shooting death.

By 10:15 a.m., Mickey was located and the Amber Alert was canceled. The man he was with, Keith Scott Bradshaw, 31, of Everson, was charged with homicide, kidnapping and conspiracy, along with Marjorie Ann Jay, 37, of Connellsville.

The process moved quickly. It happened the way an Amber Alert should, rapidly mobilizing all resources to find a minor.

Nalani Johnson was not so lucky.

Her father, Paul Johnson, reported her missing almost immediately after she was abducted. Police say Sharena Nancy, 25, drove away with the 23-month-old girl after she had a fight with Johnson and another man in Penn Hills.

That was at 5 p.m. Aug. 31.

It was three hours before an Amber Alert was issued. It was days before Nalani was found dead, her tiny body still strapped in her car seat in a park in Indiana County. Nancy is charged with kidnapping, homicide, concealing the whereabouts of a child, abuse of a corpse and interfering with the custody of a child and is being held without bail.

Three hours could have been the difference between a funeral and a scared little girl being handed back to her family. Paul Johnson’s attorney Eric Chaffin is pushing for a “Nalani Johnson Rule” that would expedite the Amber Alert process for children under 13 after a family member reports an abduction.

Chaffin’s bill has been sponsored by state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills, and submitted Wednesday. It already has 20 co-sponsors.

It has little downside.

Time is critical when a child is missing. While in any crime, the first two or three days are critical in finding answers, the clock starts ticking immediately with a child abduction.

According to the FBI, one study of 34 years of data showed that when a missing child dies, in 89% of cases, it is within 24 hours. If the child has been murdered, it happened within three hours 76% of the time.

Three hours. The time that elapsed before Nalani’s Amber Alert was issued.

It takes about one hour to drive from Penn Hills to Pine Ridge Park.

The Nalani Johnson Rule could save children’s lives by saving time.