
Ohio residents praised a mystery truck driver after his actions saved a toddler that had wandered out into the road.
It happened on Monday, October 9th at the North Bechtle Avenue and Broadway Street intersection in Springfield, Ohio.
According to the Springfield News Sun, Clark County resident, Kimberly Heckman was waiting in her vehicle for a tow truck driver when she glanced in the rearview mirror. That’s when she saw the toddler in the road.
“Just luckily, I looked in the rear-view mirror looking for that tow truck and there he was,” said Heckman of the incident.
“I jumped out of the car … it was four lanes of traffic so I was a little ways down the other side street and I just took off running,” she continued.
As she ran down the street, Heckman feared for the life of the child, until a truck driver took the situation into his own hands.
The truck driver saw the situation and managed to stop short of the toddler, cutting across the road and using his truck and trailer as a roadblock, preventing other motorists from striking the child.
“He blocked Broadway off [with his truck], where the little guy was coming out,” Heckman said.
“He just backed up and just pulled right, just cuddled him like a cradle,” she continued.
Police then arrived on scene and spent approximately 30 minutes searching for the parents of the child.
60-year-old Starley Lynch, the grandfather of the child, was arrested and now faces charges of endangerment after allegedly falling asleep while the boy was in his care, allowing for the toddler to wander into the street.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Lynch told the judge in Clark County Municipal Court.
“I’ve never been in trouble before.”
Lynch pleaded not guilty in the Clark County Municipal Court and is awaiting a pretrial hearing on November 8th.
“That semi truck driver, thank God for him because he closed that road and who knows what would have happened if he hadn’t,” added Heckman.
The truck driver then left the scene without giving his information. His identity remains a mystery.