You might call it luck or even divine intervention. But, you can definitely call a 4-year-old boy from Arvin safe now. He was in his mother's car when someone stole it Friday morning. The thief kicked the boy out when he realized he wasn't alone but, thanks to an alert bus driver who wasn't even supposed to be there at that time, the little boy is back home.
"I was walking," said 4-year-old Edwardo Sanchez of his activities Friday morning.
He was walking along busy Comanche Drive in the pitch black early morning hours. It was soon after his mother, Bernadina, had put him inside her car to take him to daycare. She quickly ran back inside to grab her bag.
"I came out of the house and saw the man driving the car away with my baby inside," said Bernadina Sanchez.
In the same morning hours, Kern County bus driver, Damon Anglin and his aide Michelle Darden, were getting ready for their route to Arvin. But Friday morning, their bus didn't start. After a 20-minute delay to fix it, they were off and heading down Comanche Drive. Stopping to check the railroad tracks at DiGiorgio Road, they spotted the little outline of Edwardo walking on the side of the road.
"I asked my aide if she just seen what I saw, and she's like, 'well, what is it?' And, I looked at her and said, 'well, there's a child right there,'" said Anglin.
"He felt safe because he saw the school bus and he thought school bus means people that are safe to talk to. So, he walked right on with me," said Darden.
Darden and Edwardo walked over to a convenience store and she called police.
The Kern County Sheriff's Department believes whoever stole the car made Edwardo get out down the road and left him there. Fortunately, his solo and scary hike in the dark was short-lived thanks to the bus drivers whose extra stop helped deputies reunite mother and son.
"And, when I saw the mother upset, it kind of hurt my heart a little bit," said Darden.
"I'm just happy, really happy and thankful that he saw my boy," said Bernadina Sanchez.
"I realized when we seen that child, we could not have been at that intersection at that time. We would have already been in Arvin had that (bus not starting) not happened. So, in my opinion, we were supposed to be at that spot at that time. No, I don't feel I'm a hero. I'm a bus driver," said Anglin.
Sheriff's deputies are still looking for the man who stole the car. It's a green Kia Rio. Its license plate is 6LDW020.
If you have any information, call 861-3110.