KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Toddler rescued from busy road late at night
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ROCHESTER, Wash. - A Washington state man is being hailed a hero after rescuing a toddler from a busy road late Saturday night.
Around 10:30 p.m., Jason Blanksma was driving down Highway 12 in Rochester when he thought he saw a small face along the road.
What Blanksma saw was a face, that of 2-year-old Quentin Lawrence, sitting scared on the side of the road in his pajamas.
Blanksma then took Quentin, who had escaped his babysitter's home in Rochester, to a nearby convenience store.
"There was a lady there and I asked her to call 911. She was really cool about it. She grabbed the coat out of her car to cover the kid up," said Blanksma. "The kid was clinging on to me."
Quentin was able to escape his babysitter's house by unlocking and opening the sliding glass door.
The babysitter, Scott Grieggs, says when Quentin fell asleep he jumped into the shower and when he got out, the kid was gone.
"I ran straight to the road because that is the worst place I could think he could be and didn't find him. I ran around the houses... got the neighbors to come out and help me look," said Grieggs.
Finally, Grieggs saw the patrol units at the nearby convenience store, ran there and found Quentin.
In all, the little boy was missing for just a few minutes, but the good samaritan, babysitter and Quentin's parents realize how lucky they all are.
"I'd rather tell him in person. I'm very thankful that he found him," said mom Keziah Lawrence.
Blanksma says he also put his parents through a similar scare when he was 3-years-old.
He says what happened last weekend was his chance to make up for it.
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