Police Credit 'Hero' Bus Driver With Recovery Of 3-Year-Old Kidnapped Milpitas Boy; Suspect Arrested
MILPITAS (CBS SF) -- A three-year-old boy kidnapped from a library in Milpitas Friday was located in Fremont, with the help of a bus driver who police are calling a hero.
The man found with him was arrested and it's believed the boy was not harmed.
The Milpitas Police Department said the boy was at the library with his mother when he wandered off sometime after 10:30 a.m. Lt. Raj Maharaj said the mother only turned her back for a moment and the boy wandered off.
Witnesses said that the boy was seen being led away by a man in his 20s wearing a hoodie who appeared to be homeless. Other witnesses said the two got on a bus.
Police alerted the VTA and began a search - soon after, they received word from a bus driver who believed the suspect and the boy were on his bus headed to the Fremont BART station.
Fremont Police officers were waiting when the bus arrived.
"And as the suspect, holding the child in his arms, walks off the bus the Fremont police takes the suspect into custody and recovers the child," said Milpitas Police Chief Steve Pangelinan.
The suspect was identified as 23-year-old Alfonso David Edington of Pittsburg.
A police officer had to pry the boy away from Edington during a brief struggled with officers, according to Milpitas Police.
The child was reunited with his parents at the Milpitas Police Department, police said.
"The bus driver is a hero. An absolute hero," said Pangelinan. "And I credit the Valley Transit Authority for receiving information from us and quickly disseminating that to their drivers in the field."
