MTA bus driver hailed as hero for saving toddler who wandered into busy Staten Island street
STATEN ISLAND, New York (WABC) -- A New York City bus driver is being hailed as a hero for using his instincts as a father to rescue a little boy who accidentally wandered several blocks from home, right into the middle of a busy intersection.
For MTA bus driver Peter Warner, June 19 was just another day for him driving his Staten Island route... until it wasn't.
"I noticed a little boy running down the middle of the street," Warner said. "He had his iPad in his hand and a diaper and a tank top, no shoes. I immediately stopped the bus."
Warner has been on the job for 13 years, but this was a first.
The cameras on his MTA bus captured the moments that unfolded, and Warner quickly made an important decision.
"I actually blocked the intersection with the bus...I got out, secured my bus, took the baby in my custody," Warner said.
He may have saved that child's life considering the intersection at Harold and Sunset in the Willowbrook neighborhood can get busy -- and the boy was right in the middle of the street.
The boy didn't speak, so Warner called his union representative and called 911. Police arrived on the scene, but the little boy wanted another hug from Warner, who is a father of two.
The tender moment was captured by one of the passengers on the bus.
It turns out, that the boy was four blocks from home, and had managed to wander away while his father was asleep and his mother was at work.
"She gave me a big hug, and she thanked me up and down, and she messaged me all the time, every time I post pictures of my kids," Warner said. "Now, we're friendly on Facebook, and she comments on my kids' pictures and stuff like that. So, we made a friendship out of it."
It's a great ending thanks to Warner's internal GPS that directed him to do the right thing.
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