Bus Driver Helps Freezing Boy Dressed Only In Underwear: Wheeling PD

WHEELING, IL — Freddy Leon, a bus driver with First Student Inc., is being hailed as a hero for his quick actions Tuesday to help a non-verbal boy with special needs. According to the Wheeling Police Department, Leon noticed the boy dressed only in undergarments outside in dangerously freezing temperatures while nearing the end of his route to Holmes Middle School.

Leon, who saw the boy wandering near an apartment complex, unloaded his students and called the Wheeling Police Department to report the alarming situation. Before starting a second route, Leon returned to the scene and began searching for the boy.

Soon thereafter, Leon found the child, introduced himself and helped him onto the warm bus. When emergency responders arrived, they began treating the child for exposure and quickly discovered the boy was non-verbal.

In 2021, Wheeling police started its "Return Home Safe Program" to assist people with special needs. Through that program, police were quickly able to identify the child as his parents had previously enrolled him in it. This allowed officers to access important information such as diagnosis, along with a photograph and contact information. As a result, officers quickly identified the child and called his parents, who were unaware of his absence.

Police said the child was reunited with his father and taken to the hospital, where he was evaluated for exposure. He was later released and is now safely home. The boy's mother expressed heartfelt gratitude, commending both Leon's quick thinking and the important role this community partnership project played in the situation.

"We are incredibly grateful for community members like Mr. Leon," Police Chief James Dunne said. "His swift and decisive action ensured the safety of a vulnerable child. Freddy's actions made a critical difference, and this outcome could have been very different without his intervention."