There has to be a smart social services expert who can give Semaj Booker good help

November 14, 11:24 AMSeattle People ExaminerLaura Vecsey

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The first time 9-year-old Semaj Booker hopped an airplane at Sea-Tac Airport and flew from Tacoma back to be with relatives in Texas, it was a bemusing if not slightly amusing story. The kid must have really missed Texas. You overlooked the danger and questions underlying reasons this kid would take such drastic measures.

And when he did it again, you were a little more alarmed, like, what is WRONG with this family that a 9-year-old keeps trying to escape Tacoma for Texas?

When he was stopped a third time, you knew this was bad news: What kid would so relentlessly rebel and seek action that would bring legal action against him?

And when he stole a car and fled police, who chased in hot pursuit, the story of Semaj Booker lost all sheen of "amusing runaway'' and turned into a question of how can this 11--year-old kid continue to be held up in the media?

Today, the Tacoma News-Tribune reports that Semaj is a convicted felon, and MIGHT have his record cleaned IF he stays good for the next two years. Goodness. Surely THIS is what will get the kid on the straight and narrow path. NOT!

Someone ought to do whatever it takes -- whatever -- to get this kid the help and environment and support it takes to remove him from the criminal justice system and put him in a circumstance where he has a chance to survive and move on without being raked by legal system.

"SEATTLE – Semaj Booker, the 11-year-old who made headlines by talking his way onto an airplane at Sea-Tac Airport, is now a convicted felon.

The News Tribune reports a Pierce County Superior Court judge on Thursday revoked the deferred deposition Booker received last year after he was convicted of stealing a neighbor’s car and leading police on a high speed chase.

Although the ruling won’t send Booker to juvenile detention, it does mean he has two felony convictions on his record for stealing a car and attempting to elude police. Judge Frank Cuthbertson explained in court Thursday that while Booker may not understand it now, the convictions on his record may make it difficult to land a good job in the future."