When you’re out at night on the highway, you don’t really expect to see anything unusual. On occasion, you may recognize the cars that are around you or perhaps there may be some animals standing along the roadway but for the most part, things tend to be quiet at night. That is especially true in Oregon, where the country roads are not very busy. For one police officer traveling on an Oregon highway at night, however, something unthinkable happened.
Police officers tend to keep their eyes open for those who may not be driving properly. They want to stop people from being distracted while they are driving or from driving dangerously in other ways. The last thing that a police officer would expect is for a pedestrian to be out in the middle of the highway at night. If you were to see a pedestrian, the last thing you would expect is for that person to be a child.
Deputy Jeremy Gautney saw something that made his blood run cold. It was a child, and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He continued to watch what was going on in front of him as his car came to a stop slowly. Now that it has been posted online, it is serving as a warning to pay attention to any unexpected conditions that may exist.
The tiny child was running toward the police car. Immediately, the cop jumped out and scooped up the child. It was only seconds later that a semi-truck drove past them in the next lane.
Deputy Gautney found out that the parents of the child were searching frantically for the lost baby before he ended up on the highway.
He was at a nearby community gathering and had escaped without anyone noticing. It wasn’t long after he was found and he was reunited with his parents.
This video was released by the County Sheriff’s office. It wasn’t to ridicule or question those involved but to warn drivers that they need to pay attention to everything going on around them.
You can watch the moment a police officer saved a two-year-old child in this video: