A Texas truck driver is being praised for rescuing a one-year-old boy who was seen crawling along a busy highway after surviving on his own for two days amid weather from Hurricane Beryl.
Reginald Walton, a driver for DHL Supply Chain, spotted the infant near a section of Interstate 10 in Calcasieu parish, Louisiana, near the state’s south-western border.
“As I was going down the highway, I noticed an image to the right over an embankment and I thought maybe it was a doll that someone had thrown out the window,” said Walton to KADN News 15.
“But as I was passing by, I saw it move and I said ‘that looked like a baby.’”
Walton quickly pulled over and called 911.
The child was taken to a local hospital, where he was found in remarkably good condition despite surviving rain and high winds from Hurricane Beryl for several days, authorities confirmed in a Tuesday press conference.
“This kid spent two days out in the weather on the side of the highway,” said Calcasieu parish’s sheriff, Gary Guillory, the Associated Press reported. “Thank God that trucker seen him.”
“We look at this one-year old as our miracle baby because he was still alive,” Guillory added.
The infant was spotted close to where his four-year-old brother was discovered dead on Monday, KADN News 15 reported.
The body of the four-year-old child was found in a lake close to the Interstate 10 welcome center, the Associated press reported.
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Both children were last seen on Saturday with their mother, 25-year-old Aaliyah Jack. Jack was arrested in Mississippi for failing to report the one-year-old child missing.
Authorities believed that the one-year-old child was also deceased and were planning to conduct a water search when the truck driver spotted the infant.
In a statement to the Guardian, a Calcasieu parish sheriff’s office representative said an investigation into the case involving both children was ongoing.
“This is a tragic incident our detectives are currently investigating,” said Guillory. “Fortunately, we were able to locate the one-year-old, who was taken to a local hospital to be checked out. He is now safe and in the care of authorities.”