Santa Cruz Metro’s Board of Directors recognized Bus Operator Pedro Garcia for his heroic actions, which led to the rescue of a missing toddler. On August 19, 2015 at approximately 5:25 a.m., Garcia was driving a METRO bus on Main Street in Watsonville when he observed vehicles in the oncoming lanes of traffic swerving as if trying to avoid hitting something. “I saw what I thought was a child walking back and forth in the lanes, but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing since no one was stopping to help” Garcia said.
As he got closer, he saw a toddler who appeared to be 3-4 years old and took quick action. He called Dispatch, summoned the police, made a right turn onto the next street in a manner that slowed down traffic coming toward the toddler, got out of the bus and ran toward the child. “I saw a truck, which almost hit the boy, pull over and I didn’t know what their intention was, so I ran out and told them I had contacted the police. I took the boy into the bus and calmed him down until police arrived,” said Garcia. Garcia said the boy was walking back and forth through the lanes of traffic “Kind of like deer when they get trapped on the road. He must have been so scared to see the lights of the cars coming toward him.”
When Watsonville Police arrived, they took the child and later returned him to his family, who reported him missing after they woke up and found that the child had wandered out of their apartment. “What upset me is that I saw about 20 cars swerve out of the way to avoid hitting the boy, but no one stopped!” Garcia said, “I’ve seen people pull over to rescue puppies that jump out of car windows, but no one seemed to be concerned that there was a boy wandering in the lanes of traffic in the dark.”