Milwaukee Bus Driver Rescues Lost Baby

A sharp-eyed Milwaukee County Transit System bus driver picked up an unusual passenger a few days before Christmas: a lost baby girl she spotted running across a freeway overpass. Irena Ivic stopped her bus and ran to rescue the crying, barefoot child, who was wearing only a diaper and a onesie on a day when temperatures were below freezing, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Video shared on Facebook by the MCTS shows Ivic bringing the child back to the bus, where a passenger offered her coat to keep her warm. By the time firefighters and police officers arrived, the girl, who was less than a year old, had fallen asleep in Ivic's arms.

Police were able to reunite the girl with her father, who told officers that the child's mother had left her outside a church near the overpass, possibly due to a mental health crisis. No charges were filed in the case. Ivic was honored for the Dec. 22 rescue Thursday by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and MCTS officials. Abele described the driver's actions as "humanity at its best," Fox 6 reports. "She did a lot more than her job. She did the right thing," Abele said. "I don't take that kind of compassion for granted." (This Buffalo bus driver was praised for preventing a suicide.)