Kidnapping victim thanks Tulsa Police

A 3-year-old Tulsa boy says thanks to those who rescued him from kidnappers. Thursday, he paid tribute to the officers who helped. KOTV's Donn Robertson was with De Andre Thomas and his family as

Friday, April 27th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A 3-year-old Tulsa boy says thanks to those who rescued him from kidnappers. Thursday, he paid tribute to the officers who helped. KOTV's Donn Robertson was with De Andre Thomas and his family as they paid tribute to the officers who helped bring him home.

De Andre Thomas's family says, if they had it, they would shower the officers with money. Instead they handed out cake and lots of thanks. "We just bless you guys so much." De Andre Thomas's grandmother said she now prays for the officers every day. De Andre showed his appreciation with a wave. "Wave to them say hi!" De Andre's father said what he liked the best during the 24 hour kidnapping ordeal, is the officers never let up. "They traveled the 24 hours just like we did, those 24 hours were like a week." Investigators say two people kidnapped the three year old at gunpoint from his home in south Tulsa early Easter Sunday. Early Monday morning emergency crews rescued De Andre across town in a Tulsa neighborhood after neighbors heard his cries for help. They say De Andre was a pawn to get a witness to lie in a molestation case. "You do a whole lot, but we want you to know that we really appreciate what you do, sometimes you take things for granted."

De Andre also passed out thank you notes, part of it read, 'you all were instruments of God used to turn our nightmare into a beautiful ending.' Officers don't receive this praise very often, hardly at all. A Tulsa Police officer, "Thirty years or so of this and you don't receive this very often, so we appreciate it from the family and everyone who worked the case." De Andre's family brought in some cake for the officers; this brought on the first joke. "We were going to get doughnuts, so we thought cake would be more appropriate." De Andre doesn't mind the attention, his father says itâ€™s hard to let him go. "It like a lost jewel, something this close to your heart just taken." De Andre's family says he's sleeping fine. He just is a little afraid of one of his toy guns. And a car he recently saw scared him.

Prosecutors have charged the four people responsible for the kidnapping.