‘I had to protect him’
MCTS bus driver saves child from oncoming traffic on busy street
MCTS bus operator Keyon Finkley has been trained to always look three blocks ahead at all times while driving Milwaukee’s routes.
That training came into play when Finkley, who has worked for the agency as a bus driver for four years, spotted a young boy trying to run into oncoming traffic on the city’s dangerous Capitol Drive late last month.
“I kind of felt my stomach drop really fast, because I worried that the little boy was about to get hit,” he told the Journal Sentinel. “I got scared for the little boy and I felt like I had to protect him.”
This was the first time that something like this had ever happened to Finkley.
The incident, however, marked the 14th time a lost or missing child has been found by drivers in recent years.
Capitol Drive is also Milwaukee’s most dangerous thoroughfare, with a city report released last August placing it on the top of the list of most risky street for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. Dozens of crashes, including many fatal, were reported last year.
A video surveillance released by MCTS shows Finkley driving on Capitol when a young boy is seen trying to run into oncoming traffic during a cold winter’s day at North 83rd Street.
The boy, who was not named and whose image was blurred, was reported as being barefoot and only wearing a pajama shirt, according to an MCTS press release.
In the video, Finkley stops the bus and runs out to the young boy to keep him from running into the busy road.
He then called dispatch, which notified the Milwaukee Police Department, which later picked up the boy.