School bus drivers help save 2-year-old in Michigan carjacking

The toddler’s rescue was caught on camera.

October 10, 2022, 9:44 AM

A 2-year-old boy has been reunited with his parents after a suspected carjacking in Michigan, thanks to the teamwork of two school bus drivers.

Dave Skinner, a driver for Kelloggsville Public Schools in the Grand Rapids area, was on the job last Tuesday when two parents flagged down his school bus in Kentwood, Michigan.

“They screamed at me that somebody had stolen their car with their baby in it,” Skinner recounted to Grand Rapids ABC affiliate WZZM. He said he quickly called 911 afterward and also alerted fellow drivers via radio.

Dave Skinner, a school bus driver in Michigan, told WZZM two parents flagged him down on Oct. 4 to ask for help after their car was allegedly stolen with their child inside.
WZZM via GMA

Fellow bus driver Sue Figueroa was paying attention. She had noticed a young child along the side of a road and quickly turned her bus around.

“I just saw … a little baby around the corner standing with a blanket on," Figueroa said in surveillance video from her school bus.

Figueroa was able to bring the boy, who had been left on the side of the road by the carjacker and wrapped in a blanket, onto her school bus. Figueroa’s actions were caught on camera in the bus surveillance video.

In surveillance video, Sue Figueroa, a school bus driver in Michigan, is seen carrying a toddler who had been left on the side of the road, into her bus.
Kellogsville Public Schools via GMA

Minutes later, the toddler and his parents were reunited after Figueroa drove the boy to where his parents were anxiously waiting.

In a statement to ABC News, Kelloggsville Public Schools Superintendent James Alston said, “Sue Figeroa, David Skinner and Kristin Nickeslon all did a great job getting this 2-year-old back with his parents. Sue and David were the drivers involved and Kristin is the director of transportation and helped coordinate their efforts.”

According to WZZM, officers with the Kentwood Police Department are still searching for the suspected carjacker but have located the stolen car. The police are asking the general public for help in the search for the thief.