Truck Driver Warms The Internet With Kind Gesture To Boy With Autism
OJAI (CBSLA.com) — A video of a truck driver handing a 5-year-old a toy is going viral on YouTube.
The 5-year-old has autism and loves trucks. Every Monday Daniel Newberger lines up his stuffed animals at the window to greet his favorite driver. Then he goes outside to excitedly wave a big hello.
The boy's mother had her camera rolling this last Monday when the driver-- Manuel Sanchez -- got out, and surprised the boy -- and Daniel's parents -- with ... what else, a toy truck.
The simple act of kindness is getting comments and applause from all over the globe. News stations in Japan and Australia have run the story.
The video runs for less than two minutes, but as KCAL9's Juan Fernandez reports, that little gesture warmed Daniel's mother's heart in a big way.
"[Waiting for] Manuel, it's like part of our week," Robin Newberger said, "We look forward to seeing him. But he just turned something ordinary into something extraordinary."
Not only extraordinary, but well-timed as well. On the video, Robin shares that Daniel's truck -- he had one just like it -- had just gotten broken.
Sanchez, 49, said in a statement that he never expected his gesture to get so much attention.
"That little boy is so special and will steal anybody's heart as soon as you see him," said Sanchez.
On the video Robin posted on YouTube she added, "One man, one moment, touching the life of an autistic child."
She said she is surprised, but thrilled, about how the video is literally affecting people all over the world.
"We are really thrilled with the attention it's getting," she said, "So many autism families have been touched by it."