City bus driver stops traffic to save 6-year-old boy wandering in middle of busy street

Hope Schreiber
·Writer
A bus driver with Milwaukee County Transit System stepped out into traffic to help a six-year-old boy who had wandered off of his school's playground. (Photo: MCTS)
A bus driver with Milwaukee County Transit System stepped out into traffic to help a 6-year-old boy who had wandered away from his school's playground. (Photo: MCTS)

A Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus driver was driving her usual route when she spotted a young boy in the middle of a busy intersection. The driver, Cecilia Nation-Gardner, went above and beyond to help the 6-year-old, whose mother says she will forever be grateful.

On May 15, the boy, who has a disability according to a press release by MCTS, wandered off from the playground of his school, Bethune Academy, and found himself in the busy intersection.

Nation-Gardner was quick to spot him and pulled into a bus stop, honking her horn in hopes that it would alert other drivers.

In video footage shared by the MCTS, Nation-Gardner can be seen leaving her bus and running across the road to grab the young boy. She then walks him hand in hand back to her bus, where she called the police. The boy was reunited with his family, thanks to the officers, and Nation-Gardner's rapid reaction.

The bus driver, a mother of three herself, says that she was running two minutes late on her route that day.

"That's why I say I was in the right place at the right time. It was meant for me to be there. God does everything for a reason," she said.

On Friday, the boy's mother, Cassandra Garrett, met Nation-Gardner for the first time.

"I was so grateful for her," Garrett said, according to Fox 6 Now. "I'm speechless because if it wasn't for her he wouldn't even be here. I don't even know where he would have been right now."

Garrett says that her son wandering off his school's playground would be addressed, but Friday was meant to celebrate the driver who helped him come home safe and sound.

Milwaukee Public Schools released the following statement: "Milwaukee Public Schools is grateful the student from Mary McLeod Bethune Academy was found and returned safely to school.

"On May 15, 2019, a 6-year-old student stepped away from his class line at the end of recess, did not enter the building with his class, and remained on the playground. While other classes were on the playground, the child left the school grounds.

"The student was discovered by an MCTS bus driver, Cecilia Nation-Gardner, who took the child onto her bus and called the police. The police returned the student to school and his parent was immediately contacted.

"MPS is working with Bethune Academy to review policies and procedures. The school and the student's mother have been working closely to determine the sequence of events. A revised plan has already been put in place to recheck students at specified points during the school day."

According to MCTS's statement, this is the 10th lost or missing child found by MCTS drivers in recent years.

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