Monday, October 12, 2009

School Bus Driver Scoops Lost Boy from Traffic

Sometimes the chances to be a hero stares you right in the face and still not see it.

That is exactly what ten or so drivers did when they drove past a lost 4-year-old boy wandering on Beach Boulevard traffic and ignored what they saw.

However most of them did not see a lost kid, they just saw a little boy who was blocking traffic.

It took a school bus driver to realize the danger the boy was in and finally scooped him up to safety.

Valerie Flanagan, who has been a bus driver for 23 years, noticed the traffic moving slowly near Beach Boulevard and Westminster Avenue with the cars in front swerving in the street.

She assumed that there might be a dog stuck on the road but was surprised to see a small boy wandering in the far right lane of the six lane road.

Flanagan stopped, parked her bus and put her hazards on amid the annoying horns of the vehicles behind her.

She then went out of the bus knelt down and coaxed the boy to come to her for fear that if she comes too close the boy might run off.

The boy went to the driver and she picked him up. He tucked his head on her shoulder as Flanagan brought her inside the bus.

Flanagan said that there were no adults near the boy.

The police then received a 911 call reporting that the bus driver had the boy, and after 10 minutes a mother called to report a missing child, said Westminster police Sgt Dan Schoonmaker.

Within minutes everyone was reunited in a happy ending that could have ended otherwise.

Flanagan was outraged that none of the vehicles before her stopped to get the boy and said that she does not want to get credit for what everyone should be doing.

But we all know that she should get recognition. Had Flanagan ignored the child, who knows what could have happened to him.

It could have ended in a car accident where a lost boy ends up being seriously injured or worse.

A mother could be grieving for her little boy right now.

Although there was no accident, it is our duty to stop and provide assistance to those who are in need. This is not only our duty to the law but also a moral obligation as a human being.