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Gerrard Kaonga
A bus driver has been praised after acting on instinct when he saw a child walking alone down the road about 10 blocks away from their school.
New York MTA bus driver Luis Jimenez was on shift in September like usual when he spotted a child walking on the sidewalk.
Jimenez almost wasn’t in work that day as he was considering calling in sick... thankfully, he didn’t.
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While on his route he spotted 5-year-old Adaline 'Addy' Gonzalez seemingly all by herself, and his fatherly instincts kicked in and he acted. He says he kept an eye on the girl for about a block before telling one of his passengers to call 911.
He then pulled over his dispatcher and with the help of the other riders got the young girl on the bus.
Speaking about the incident to the local news, he said: “My instinct as a father came on because if I see a kid in the street in need of help, I would want somebody to help one of my children or one of my grandkids.
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“You know, my wife always, you know, kind of like she's worried about me because she knows that when I see something, it's like we have a saying in the MTA, 'if you see something, say something.' Oh, well, with me, I will do something.”
Police eventually arrived and got the girl back to her family safely.
Amazingly, Addy had decided to skip school to go to a pet store and get a new fish after her pet fish died that morning. She didn’t tell her parents about what she intended to do and had no history of leaving school prior to the incident.
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To put the sweetest of bows on this story, the little girl and Jimenez were reunited not long after the incident and she had the most adorable message for him.
She told him: “Thank you Luis, for being my hero and saving my life.”
The family also gave the bus driver New York Jets hat that said 'Addy's Hero'.
Upon their reunion the pair were also dancing together, seemingly in high spirits.
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Speaking of meeting Addy again he said: “It made me feel so good. My heart was pumping. I couldn't wait to meet her and her parents because something like that should be celebrated. She was able to go home.”
And to top it all off, Addy did get her new fish and she picked a perfect name for it.
She said: “I decided to name my new fish Luis. I was excited and I was happy and it was perfect."