School driver spotted 2-yr-old wandering by himself without shoes — toddler's one word broke her heart
If we see something that is a clear indication of danger to another, it is essential to at least attempt to get help. A simple act or response on our end can be the only one that makes a life-saving difference. A Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART) bus driver, Barbara Baker, managed to save the life of a toddler through her thoughtful act, FOX 13 reported. A worrisome footage shows the toddler wandering alone helplessly in the middle of the road, and one can only wonder what would have happened had it not been for this thoughtful woman. The boy uttered one word after Baker carried him and she could no longer hold back tears.
The footage captured Barbara making her way on the street during her shift as usual. As soon as she saw a figure in the distance, she slowed her vehicle down. As she approached closer, she realized it was a toddler. She honked so that he could first move aside from the road before anything untoward happened. “I looked and I said, ‘Is that a baby?’ And I looked again, I see no shoes, I see pajamas. I said, ‘Oh my God, that's a baby.’ My heart just dropped,” Baker noted, per Newsweek. Without a second thought, she halted her bus at a safe distance from the child, got down and ran across the road to get hold of him.
Calling out to him and trying not to scare him away, she carried him. She did her best to see if the boy’s parents were around but in vain. Baker also called the authorities, who quickly began knocking on doors to identify the boy’s family. As the woman carried the child to safety into her bus, he said one word repeatedly and it brought the driver to tears. “Mom, mom,” he kept saying, as if he were yearning to go back to her. Baker knew she had to get him safely to his parents. As a grandmother herself, she knew how scary the situation was. “I almost wanted to cry because I thought about my grandbabies,” she explained.
Fortunately, within 20 minutes, the officers were able to identify the boy’s mother and safely hand him back to her. It was revealed that the boy wandered two and a half blocks away from his home. “He walked along where he's just browsing down the street and ended up in the middle of a busy road,” Baker recalled, still frightened of the visual. It was not just the mom who was relieved but also Baker, who was in a fix until the baby was back with his family.
HART CEO Scott Drainville commended the driver’s actions and thoughtfulness. "This is a powerful reminder that our operators do far more than drive buses — they also serve as guardians of the community every single day. Operator Baker’s courage and attentiveness exemplify the dedication and heart that define our team,” he said. For Baker, her only motive was the safety of the child. "Sometimes, it makes me want to cry. Like, now I feel a little emotional, but knowing that the baby is home, that's a big thing for me," she said.
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