A Maple Valley police officer was hit by a car in Renton, when attempting to help a boy that was reported kidnapped.

The officer was taken to Harborview Medical Center Jan. 12. Although the 23-year-old officer was pretty banged up, he was released that night, according to King County Sergeant John Urquhart.

The kidnapping turned out to be a hoax. The 12-year-old boy staged the kidnapping after getting into trouble with his parents over an “F in math.”

The son called his parents screaming that he had been kidnapped at about 4:30 p.m. He then called his parents a little while later, after being dropped off on the 18600 block of Maple Valley Highway.

Seeing the boy, two responding officers crossed the highway on foot, when one of them was struck by a 2008 Ford Taurus.

The driver was uninjured and hasn’t been cited for the incident.

As the detectives interviewed the boy at length, his story made less and less sense. At around 9:30 that night, the boy confessed to his parents that it was a hoax.

Due to the child’s age, it’s unlikely he’ll face charges, Urquhart said.