Caught on video: Bus driver helps lost toddler in Wisconsin

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY/Gray News) - A bus driver with Green Bay Metro Transit helped a toddler reunite with his mom last Tuesday.

“Operators are trained to be very observant and aware of their surroundings, so a lot goes into it when they’re moving down the road,” said Jake Lueptown, the operations supervisor.

That training kicked into high gear for one driver, who declined an on-camera interview, when an unattended little boy ran across a street in Bellevue around 6:30 p.m.

The WBAY crew noticed a busy street was just one block away in the direction the boy was headed.

Surveillance video from the bus shows several angles of the road and inside the bus. It shows the driver taking the boy into the bus.

“We’re going to find your mom and dad, OK? Find out where they went. Did you wander away from the house? Yeah. Yeah? Do you live here? Are you in the apartments?” asked the driver.

She continued to ask questions and reassure the boy they’ll find mom and dad. They remained in the bus for about 10 minutes until law enforcement showed up.

“Hey buddy, how are you?” asked the officer. “He was just standing in the middle of the road here,” said the driver.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office said the boy was reunited with his mom.

Lueptow said he is proud of the driver and said it’s what they do.

“Just goes to show how the great job that the drivers do in utilizing that training, being observant, aware of their surroundings and always willing to help out any way that we can,” he said.

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