Driver Comes To A Screeching Halt As He Catches Sight Of Baby In Middle Of Busy Road

May 07, 2021 by apost team

A man from Eatontown, New Jersey, spotted something in the middle of a busy road while driving that made him quickly slam on his brakes. Cory Cannon was driving to work on a Saturday evening in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, in September 2018, when he noticed something he couldn’t completely make out near the solid yellow line in the middle of the road. 

When he first noticed what appeared to be an object in the road, Cannon immediately tapped on his brakes so he could then proceed further with caution. Upon closer inspection, Cannon realized that it was a baby crawling across the busy street. According to the Washington Post, the speed limit on the busy road is 40 miles per hour, making it quite a dangerous place for children to play, especially if parents lose sight of them. 

Cannon heroically took action and did what he could to save the baby before getting hurt. Who knows what could have happened had he not spotted the infant boy? Thankfully, he was able to rescue the child before anything happened to the baby boy. While playing in the road is dangerous enough for children, this infant had managed to crawl from his home across the street out onto the extremely fast-paced and busy road.

The question of how the baby had made his way to the street was brought up, with a police investigation taking place shortly afterward. Cannon just so happened to be at the right place during a vital moment for the child and his safety.

At first, Cannon didn’t think too much of the object in the road. “I thought it was a toy or something,” he told the Asbury Park Press. Shortly after he first spotted whatever was in the road, the object began to move. This was when Cannon realized it was a baby crawling across the street parallel to a suburban neighborhood. 

Cannon pulled over and positioned his truck in the road so it would force traffic to stop. He then took a picture of the endangered infant before waiting for someone to come out and help him, as he didn’t “feel comfortable” picking the baby up, according to CBS New York. Luckily someone spotted him and the baby, and the baby boy was eventually brought back to his own home. 

Cannon had looked around in the direction toward where the baby was moving and spotted a screen door that was slightly ajar. He went to the house and knocked on the door before being greeted by a little girl and then an adult. According to Cannon, the adult apologized for the incident, but Cannon quickly shot down his comments since the real person who deserved the apology was the baby who had escaped the home.

Cannon wasn’t completely sure what he was looking at first and proceeded with caution. “I was riding in my work truck on my way to another job, saw something in the middle of the street,” he told ABC 7. “So I started to slow my truck down, so I could slow the traffic behind me just in case it was something that could have done damage to the car, let alone it being a child.”

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Although the baby was not injured and was left unmarked by the dangerous encounter, Cannon didn’t think much about how he potentially saved the boy’s life. “I don’t really consider myself a hero,” Cannon said. “I just feel like I did the right thing at the right time.”

Lakewood Police Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith spoke with the Washington Post about the horrific incident. “The family of the child was unaware that he had left until the neighbor returned him,” he said. Police mentioned that the infant might have crawled out through an open door. The family of the child did not want to comment on the matter, according to the Washington Post.

The police department started an investigation with the state child protection department on Sept. 24, 2018, to help determine how exactly the baby boy was able to make her way to the scarily busy road. According to ABC 7, a father was charged with cruelty and neglect of his children on Sept. 28, 2018, just a few days after the dangerous incident occurred. 

Evgeniy Dorman, the infant’s father, surrendered at the Lakewood Police Department before receiving the charges. He was later released with a pending future court date. ABC 7 reported that authorities conducted an investigation and found that the 10-month-old child had crawled through an open front door, which was most likely left open and unlocked by an older sibling.

Being at the right place during a very critical moment could have been life-saving for a baby, as he had somehow escaped his home and crawled out into a busy street. Despite Cannon’s own claims of not being heroic, he exhibited remarkably brave behavior when he stopped traffic to help save the infant.

What are your thoughts about Cannon's rescue story? What do you think about the baby’s parents? Let us know, and be sure to send this to your family members and friends for their thoughts, too.