A Texas truck driver is being hailed as a Good Samaritan for saving a 1-year-old he spotted crawling near Interstate 10 Tuesday morning. The 1-year-old is the sibling of a boy whose body was recovered Monday in waters behind the Vinton Welcome Center — nearly eight miles from where the toddler was spotted.
Reginald Walton, a driver for DHL Supply Chain, said he was en route from Texas to Crowley for a delivery when he spotted the boy.
“At first I thought maybe it was a doll or a toy or something like that that someone had thrown out the window,” Walton said. “As I passed by, I noticed that it moved and that’s when I dialed 911 and told them I may have seen a child on the side of the road.”
Walton said he was cruising at about 65 mph when he saw the child and it took him about a quarter of a mile to get his 18-wheeler to come to a complete stop.
“Then I got out and 911 stayed on the phone with me until I did notice that it was a baby, then they transferred me to the Sheriff’s Office,” Walton said.
Sheriff Stitch Guillory told the American Press earlier this week the boy had been outside for about two days, crawling his way through an interstate embankment while the remnants of Hurricane Beryl — including high-force wind and heavy rainfall — swirled around him.
“He was still alive and it’s unbelievable,” Guillory said. “This kid spent two days out in the weather on the side of the highway. Thank God that trucker seen him. We are so thankful for this trucker.”
Walton said when he found the boy, the child was sitting in the grass.
“As I approached, he smiled at me, then he stood up and he started crying and then he walked toward me,” Walton said. “I grabbed his hand and he stopped crying. I think he was just excited to see someone when I got there.”
Walton said the boy had bits of grass on him, but “didn’t seem to have any abrasions or any kind of abuse to him.”
Guillory said the boy was brought to a local hospital and was in good spirits, though covered in insect bites. He has since been discharged and is in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.
As Walton and the boy waited for officers to arrive, he said he tried to be a calming presence for the boy.
“I just told him, ‘It’s gonna be all right, little man,’ ” Walton said.
The mother of the children, Aaliyah Jack, 25, of Lake Charles, is under arrest in Meridian, Miss., for failing to report a missing child. Officers discovered her waiting to board a train.
Calcasieu Parish District Attorney Stephen Dwight said after an autopsy is performed on the 4-year-old boy, charges could be upgraded.
Most Popular
Comments / 0