Dashcam footage reveals a dramatic moment when a rideshare driver saved a toddler wandering alone on a busy Texas road.
Michelle Gallegos, who drives for zTrip through VIA Link, was heading south on Interstate 35 in San Antonio on March 10 when she spotted movement on the road—a young boy. According to reports from WJHG, she quickly realized the gravity of the situation.
In the footage, it’s clear she had a passenger in the back seat as she exclaimed, “Oh my god, there’s a little boy in the middle of the road.”
The video captures the heart-stopping moment when the boy jumped onto the busy street, stopping only after Gallegos honked her horn.
Strangely enough, he seemed unfazed, continuing to skip along next to the car.
Gallegos recalled feeling a mix of disbelief and urgency, telling WJHG, “I had to open and close my eyes and think, ‘Is this real?'”
She noted that the boy appeared completely unafraid, “He was skipping and playing,” she said.
After a moment of shock, Gallegos parked her car on South Zarzamora Avenue and approached the child on the road.
“Where do you live, baby? Come on, sit here,” she is heard saying in the footage before pulling him into the car and giving him a hug.
Gallegos recounts trying to glean some information about the child’s whereabouts, wanting to ensure someone was looking for him.
She described the toddler as having a dirty face and hair, barefoot but well-diapered, noting, “It was uncomfortably wet for him, so he tried to take it off.”
Unsure of his home, she drove to the nearby Seven Pines apartment complex and called 911.
Less than ten minutes later, police arrived, and the toddler’s parents emerged from the apartment shortly after.
“As soon as I arrived, I saw my parents walking in very calmly,” Gallegos recalled.
Her company praised her actions as an “extraordinary act of awareness and responsibility,” while Gallegos attributed the moment to her “instinct and training,” as reported by WJHG.
She expressed a heartfelt wish that others would respond similarly in such a situation.
Attempts to contact San Antonio Police and zTrip for comments went unanswered initially.
