A DoorDash driver in Detroit saved a toddler when he observed the child wandering frigid Eight Mile Road Sunday in only a diaper and a pair of socks.
Robert Jackson III was on his way to make a delivery on Sunday when he came across the child, according to Fox 2 Detroit.
“I saw something at a distance, but I was unsure what it was, and as I got closer, I said, ‘That’s a kid!'” Jackson explained.
The Detroit News reports the high temperature on Sunday was 38 degrees, but the wind chill made it feel below freezing.
Jackson exited his vehicle and wrapped the young boy in his jacket before placing the toddler in his warm car.
“He was standing in the middle of Eight Mile like this,” Jackson told Fox 2 Detroit. “(He) was shaking, his hands and his lips were purple and his fingers were purple.”
“I jumped in the car and just to give the baby some body heat — more body heat, ’cause I had the heat on — I just held him,” Jackson said.
Jackson apparently tried to ask the toddler where he came from.
“You can’t ask him who his mommy is. He can’t talk,” Jackson said in captured cell phone footage. “Look, he has no shoes.”
The Good Samaritan got the attention of another motorist, who pulled over and called 911.
Cpl. Dan Donakowski, a spokesman with the Detroit Police Department, told the Detroit News that officers were called to the scene at approximately 11:18 a.m.
After first responders arrived, medics transported the toddler to a hospital out of precaution, and the child was deemed healthy, the Detroit News reports.
Officers were able to contact the child’s mother, who left the toddler under the care of her 16-year-old son while she was grocery shopping. She met the officers at the hospital to retrieve her young son.
“It looks like an accident, and it doesn’t appear that any charges will be filed,” said Donakowski.
Jackson is glad he was in the right place at the right time.
“It feels good that I was there — I don’t know how to explain it,” Jackson told Fox 2 Detroit.
“I’m grateful I was there to help that child. That means a lot to me. It’s got me right here,” he added, tapping his heart.
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