Bus Driver Saves Kidnapped Boy, Tricks Suspect Before Calling California Authorities

A California bus driver saved a kidnapped boy on Friday. Tim Watson had spotted the 3-year-old missing child alongside the suspect and tricked the alleged kidnapper before calling authorities.

Bus drivers had been told to keep an eye out for a boy who had gone missing from the Milpitas Public Library an hour prior, as well as the suspected kidnapper. The boy was described as wearing red shoes and red plaid shorts. The suspect was described as a 23-year-old in a black hooded sweatshirt.

When Watson spotted the two on his bus, he decided to get a closer look without making it obvious and alerting the suspect. He pulled the bus over and pretended to look for a missing green backpack.

The ruse worked, as Watson explained.

“What I’m really trying to do is to get up without him knowing to look at the little boy. So sure enough, I see the plaid shorts and red shoes. That’s what really stuck out in my mind.”

Having confirmed what he’d seen, the bus driver saved the kidnapped boy by calling dispatchers, who in turn alerted authorities. When the bus reached the Fremont bus station, police were waiting and took down suspected kidnapper Alfonso David Edington. According to the Huffington Post, Watson explained the almost suspenseful take-down.

“So I open my door one slowly, giving them time to get prepped and ready to go. I open up door two, the gentleman walks out calm, cool, collected as can be and they take him down on the spot.”

The boy was later reunited with his grateful parents at the police station.

Nice. “California bus driver saves kidnapped boy, 3, after tricking suspect” http://t.co/OrK4v04y9N via @NYDailyNews

— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) June 7, 2015

It is unknown what Edington had intended to do with the boy. He had no connection with the family, but authorities are attempting to figure it out. According to the New York Daily News, the boy was unharmed when police saw him in the alleged kidnapper’s arms.

Milpitas Police Chief Steve Pangelinan told reporters that the bus driver who saved the kidnapped boy “is a hero, an absolute hero.”

[Image via Kelly / Wikimedia Commons]