HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A Henrico father is thankful he was in the right place at the right time after he rescued a toddler running along the side of a busy road Friday morning.
Tre Waddy was on his way to work when he had to do a double and triple take after he saw the child running down the side of Parham Road.
"I didn't expect him to come across like that in between our cars," Waddy said, pointing to dashcam video of the incident.
The boy was running south along the northbound lanes of Parham Road.
Waddy couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"It was a real quick, 'I have to find the hazard, undo my seat belt, open the door,'" Waddy recalled. "You saw the white car come by and he was... I was just like, 'I don't care if the door gets hit, I don't care if the car gets hit,' obviously. So I had to be quick about it."
Waddy snatched the boy up before he could dart into oncoming traffic. The youngster was inches away from serious injury or death.
"It's a lot of different factors to think about. I'm glad I was there when I was there — and that's all I can really say,” Waddy said. “I'm just happy I got to be there at that exact time because you know 30 seconds before or later anything else could've happened."
Waddy said he was asking the boy questions before he eventually walked back up a hill to a nearby daycare.
"There were like two or three teachers up there and I'm like, ‘None of you, not one of you saw this kid?’” Waddy said.
The Henrico father said he was glad he found the boy when he did.
"He was on Parham. Someone could've just driven away with him. So all these factors are coming in after the fact," he said. "So much could've happened to this kid... I'm happy that he's safe and I'm happy he's where he's supposed to be. But I do think someone needs to be held responsible."
Stay with WTVR.com and CBS 6 News for updates on this developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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