‘Thank you for being my hero’: 5-year-old girl reunites with NYC bus driver who saved her from wandering the city alone

NYC bus driver Luis Jimenez found five-year-old Adaline “Addy” Gonzalez unaccompanied in Harlem after skipping school. (Screenshot: Eye Witness News ABC7NY/YouTube)

In September, bus driver Luis Jimenez found five-year-old Adaline “Addy” Gonzalez unaccompanied in Harlem after skipping school.

Not all heroes wear capes; some wear MTA uniforms. This week, a five-year-old girl was reunited with the New York City bus driver who rescued her from wandering the streets by herself.

On September 11, bus operator Luis Jimenez, 60, found Adaline “Addy” Gonzalez walking around Harlem by herself as he was finishing his morning shift. That morning, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) reportedly responded to a 911 call about a missing child in a Harlem neighborhood. While officers began searching the area, Jimenez says he spotted the unaccompanied child and monitored her for approximately a block before telling one of his passengers to call 911. Pulling the bus over and contacting his dispatcher, the bus driver was able to get Addy onto the bus until police arrived.

“Officers were able to track down and stop the bus that she missing was on. EMS responded to the location and evaluated her on [the] scene. There were no injuries reported as a result of this incident,” an NYPD spokesperson told People magazine about the incident.

For Jimenez, helping the five-year-old get home safely made going to work worthwhile. The bus driver told ABC affiliate WABC that he had considered calling out sick that day. That small decision ended up having an enormous impact on the Gonzalez family.

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“It made me feel so good,” Jimenez told the local news outlet. “I couldn’t wait to meet her and her parents because something like that should be celebrated, she was able to get home,”

“We were totally scared,” Addy’s mom, Julissa Gonzalez, added. “We didn’t know what to think. You know, we were terrified because that’s our little girl.”

When asked about what happened, Addy revealed she snuck out of school on a mission to find a new pet fish to replace one that had recently died. So, in light of their heartwarming reunion, Jimenez gifted the young girl a goldfish.

“I decided to name my new fish… Luis,” Addy said, sharing her reaction to the gift. “I was excited and happy and it was perfect.”

In return, the Gonzalez family gifted the MTA bus driver with a customized New York Jets hat that read “Addy’s Hero.”

“She’s always been very determined to do what she wants,” her father, Cesar Gonzalez, explained. “It’s beautiful to meet Luis. And he is really a beautiful person. And thank God. Thank him. You know, she’s here with us today.”