Crawling Amid Heavy Traffic, Toddler Saved

A police officer made a U-turn in rush-hour traffic Thursday to save a 23-month-old boy who was walking and crawling alone in the middle of six-lane Harbor Boulevard.

Officer James Colegrove, 28, was driving north on the major thoroughfare--just a few blocks south of Disneyland--when he saw the toddler, clad only in a diaper, clutching a doll in the southbound fast lane about 5 p.m.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Colegrove, who had just driven past Chapman Avenue en route to a reported gang fight. “Why didn’t the other cars stop? Why did no other cars stop? I was shocked.”

In rescuing the child, the officer swung his vehicle behind the toddler to form a barrier to traffic, then got out and picked him up, police said.

“I bent down to pick up the kid and he gave me a bearhug around my neck,” the officer said, then described how he held the child in one arm while waving the other to stop traffic.

Colegrove was even more surprised at what he didn’t see. “I expected to pick up the child and immediately hand him off to a frantic mother,” he said. “But there was no mother, no guardian, no nothing.”

After an extensive search of the neighborhood, police arrested a 32-year-old woman, who was supposed to be baby-sitting the boy, on suspicion of child endangerment.

The toddler was taken to the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange, where he was found to be in good condition, Sgt. Frank Hauptmann said.

Colegrove described the boy as “happy-go-lucky guy, very friendly” when he scooped him up and placed him in the front seat of the police car. Without a child seat for the toddler, Colegrove drove slowly to a nearby motel where he parked and waited for assistance.

Officers searched the neighborhood for an hour without finding any relatives. At that point, Colegrove borrowed a car seat and took the child to Orangewood.

Just after 6 p.m., a police car that was searching the area was flagged down at the intersection of Harbor and Yucca Avenue by Veronica Valdez, who identified herself as the child’s mother. Valdez told police she had been running errands and left the child with her roommate, Deborah Ann Metro.

Police arrested Metro at her home in the 1700 block of Harbor. She is being held at Orange County Jail.

Police said they believe Metro had been smoking marijuana and fell asleep, allowing the child to wander off. Metro told police she saw them searching the area but did not flag them down.

The child will remain at Orangewood pending a Social Services Agency investigation.

Colegrove, who attended Cypress College and is now studying at Cal State Long Beach, has been besieged by requests for television, radio and newspaper interviews.

“I don’t think it was a big deal,” he said, referring to his role in the rescue, but noted that the situation could have ended horribly. “An infant in the roadway is a tragedy.”