Not all heroes are made from grand gestures of courage.
Every parent’s worst nightmare is to have their children reported as missing.
One can only imagine the pain of the anxiety as they are torn between hoping and giving up.
Sometimes it takes a village.
A parent would’ve experienced this tragic situation if not for the actions of an everyday hero, a school bus driver from the local school district.
It was his usual route
Dave Skinner, a driver for the Kellogsville Public Schools in Grand Rapids, was plying his usual route.
As he approached one of the houses, he spotted two people in the Kentwood area in visible distress.
The couple flagged him down and Skinner stopped in front of them to find out what was happening.
In surveillance footage recorded by the bus’s CCTV system, a mother can be seen frantically and desperately asking for help.
The man with her explained what happened.
He said their car was stolen.
He asked Skinner to call the cops.
This wasn’t an ordinary auto heist. The man shared a chilling detail that made Skinner go on high alert.
The man said the car still has the woman’s two-year-old child inside.
The child’s parents were apparently dropping off another child when the culprit sneakily and hastily entered their car and drove away.
Skinner quickly called 911.
He asked the woman to give him the details, like the car’s make and what the child looks like.
The bus driver didn’t stop there.
He tapped into the school bus radio frequency and asked for the assistance of all available bus drivers on the road.
He asked the drivers to be on the lookout for the child.
That same morning, Sue Figueroa, another bus driver, was also on her usual route.
She was listening to Skinner’s broadcast when something clicked in her head.
She took note of the details Skinner shared and realized the boy was not far from where she was.
In fact, she just passed by a boy that exactly matched Skinner’s description.
When she reported the sighting, Kristin Nickelson, the school district’s director of transportation told her to deviate from her route, turn around, and pick the little girl up.
Figueroa quickly complied.
In the recording, she can be seen stopping right in front of a little boy with a blanket draped around her.
She approached the child who was now standing in the middle of someone’s driveway.
The child was hesitant at first.
But eventually, he gave in when he sensed that the woman could be trusted.
Figueroa then carefully placed him in one of the seats after confirming on the radio that the child was safe.
The child was reunited with his parents, all thanks to the bus drivers.
Jim Alston, superintendent of Kellogsville Public Schools, praised the drivers for their quick thinking.
The drivers, however, said that it’s all part of the job.
“I don’t know if we’re heroes,” Skinner told NBC News. “Drivers are very attentive to all the kids in the neighborhoods while we’re picking them up. And if they see something odd or strange, they’re real quick to get on the radio and holler back.”
The carjacked vehicle was also located but no suspects were arrested.
See these drivers form a bus brigade to reunite a child with his parents in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
