Local News in Brief : Mission Viejo : Boy, 8, Trying to Be Helpful, Goes Astray

An 8-year-old boy who got lost, apparently while trying to do his family a favor by picking up the morning paper and doughnuts, was found bicycling along a busy freeway Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Highway Patrol Officer Jim Smith found Nathaniel Boyd peddling southbound on Interstate 5 near Oso Parkway, about 3 1/2 miles from his home, just after 8 a.m. Tuesday.

“We thought he might have been a sleepwalker, then a sleep-rider,” Smith said, but the boy finally remembered his telephone number and soon was reunited with his family.

His father, Richard Boyd, said Nathaniel was not a sleepwalker but that he apparently “wanted to do what I do sometimes--go get the paper and the doughnuts. But this time he just got confused. He’s OK and went to school today.”