Washington, DC, Carrier Technician Keith Rollins was driving to a postal facility while on duty one morning in February when something alongside Interstate 95 caught his eye.
It might have been a small animal, Rollins thought, but he also knew authorities and volunteers had been combing the area overnight for a missing toddler, Ethan Adeyemi.
He decided to check it out.
Rollins safely pulled over, called 911 and momentarily found 2-year-old Ethan barefoot, soaking wet and shivering as he cowered behind an old fender.
The Postal Service employee picked him up, saying, “Hey, buddy, how are you doing? Are you OK?”
He would soon learn that Ethan doesn’t speak and had wandered nearly a mile away from his home 10 hours earlier.
Rollins sheltered the child in the postal vehicle and covered him with spare clothes until emergency responders arrived.
Ethan was treated for hypothermia at a local hospital before being sent home with his family.
“It was God-ordained that I be in that place at that time,” Rollins later told the local CBS affiliate, one of many media outlets to cover Ethan’s rescue.