Grandpa picks up wrong kid from school

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A case of mistaken identity led to a police investigation and a change in policy at a South Carolina elementary school.

It started when a 65-year-old man went to pick up his young grandson early from school last month.

He greeted a boy who he thought was his grandson.

The school says the man was on a list of people approved to pick up students, and the boy reportedly confirmed that it was his grandfather.

The boy left with the man and his wife.

When they got home the grandmother realized that the boy was not her grandchild. They then took the boy back to school.

The grandfather, Joseph Fuller, said, "I went in and filled out the excuse to have him excused from school, brought him home. They...resemble (each other) a lot, and that's how I mistakenly took him to be my grandson."

Father of the boy mistaken for Fuller's grandson, Darrin Pressley, said, "That's gross negligence on the school's part. My thing is, you know, have (a precaution) so this doesn't ever happen again. But yet and still we're wondering, 'Why did he still go with him?' Because he's only six and he's at school and the teacher's telling him to go, so he's like, 'I thought they were going to bring me to my mommy.' So, the thing now we put in place, don't go anywhere with anybody you do not know."

The school district has revised student check-out procedures based on the incident. Local station WIS reports students must now verbally identify the person picking them up, and that name must be checked against the student's pickup list.