School bus driver saves lost infant’s life

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nothing could have prepared school bus driver Ricardo Martinez for the unique emergency situation he faced en route last October.

However, thanks to his strong instincts and moral code, Martinez was able to bring a lost infant to safety.

As Martinez was covering a special-needs trip for the Anaheim City School District on Oct. 14, he noticed cars swerving around something in the middle of the road. He drove a bit closer only to find it was a 15-month-old baby boy in a T-shirt and diaper. In a strange coincidence, he was playing with a toy school bus.

“A lot of things were going through my head,” Martinez recalled. “I knew I had to save the baby, and I wondered why the other cars hadn’t stopped when they saw him.”

Quick thinking led Martinez to first secure his bus so he could retrieve the baby, taking him out of harm’s way. He brought the infant onto the bus and radioed dispatch, who then notified the Anaheim Police Department.

To read the rest of this story and other accounts of school bus driver bravery, see the new "Heroes in School Transportation" feature in our forthcoming January issue, or view it online here.