KENTWOOD, Mich. — Tuesday morning started off like any other day for bus driver Dave Skinner. He arrived to work at the bus depot at Kelloggsville Public Schools. He checked on his bus, making sure it was safe and ready to go for the kids. But, by the time his day was done, many people were calling him a hero.
“It’s a team effort here in the school district,” Skinner said during an interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t really consider myself a hero. I was at the right place at the right time.”
That place and time was 48th Avenue and Marlette Street on Tuesday around 8:10 a.m. It was there that he saw people waving cars down, but those cars drove by.
However, Skinner pulled over.
“Clearly nobody was stopping, so, I stopped the bus. The gentleman got on the bus and said 'Call 911.' Their car was stolen with a baby inside and so I got on the phone, talked to 911,” Skinner explained. “They’re asking me questions so I’m trying to get information out of the parents. One doesn’t speak English. One does. And, they were frantic. Their child had just been taken.”
“It’s a team effort here in the school district. I wouldn’t really consider myself a ‘hero.’ I was at the right place at the right time.”
— Lauren Edwards (@LaurenEdwardsTV) October 5, 2022
A @kvrocketsps bus driver helped a family get their 2yo back after 👧 was in the back seat of parents car when it was stolen. // @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/eQIH3s63P4
Skinner said there were no students on his bus at the time. Since they were near is usual stop, he pulled over immediately.
“When you get close enough you can see the look in mom and dad’s eyes you knew something was wrong,” Skinner said. “It’s kind of a judgment call so I stopped.”
It was at that time that Skinner put out a call to all other bus drivers in the area letting them know what was happening.
Then, fellow bus driver Sue Figueroa pulled up next to him.
“The direction she came from, she had seen a child sitting on the side of the road with a blanket,” Skinner said. “I’m still dealing with mom and dad. And then Kristen she gets on the radio and tells her to turn around and go back and pick the child up.”
Kristen was at the office and told Figueroa everything that was going on.
Figueroa quickly responded. They said the child was a few blocks away near the intersection of Garland and Jefferson. She picked up the child and brought the toddler back to the parents.
The parents declined Fox 17’s request for an interview. However the mom did say that she felt “immense relief and cried happily” when the child returned.
Kentwood Police Chief Brian Litwin stated via email that the incident appears to be random. The child was sitting in the car while the parents were placing another child on the bus. That’s when the suspect jumped in and sped off. The child was discovered less than half a mile away, and the car was recovered over on 43rd and Breton Avenue.
As for the bus drivers, Figueroa declined an interview. But, she and Skinner are now being called heroes.
“It could’ve been a worse outcome and it wasn’t,” Skinner said. “We were able to return a child. It’s a credit to our transportation department. The drivers are very observant, all their surroundings, kids walking up and down the street. So, you know it was a good day.”
