DDOT bus driver recognizes missing teen, returns her to family

DETROIT (WJBK) - A young teen went missing in Detroit and her family was desperate to find her.

An alert bus driver is being called a hero. He spotted the 13-year-old girl wandering on the street and recognizes her as a missing person, what he did to get her safely back to her family.

Robert Anderson has worked as a DDOT bus driver for 9 years, but this is the first time he's experienced something like this.

"My children came home with a letter concerning a missing person," Anderson said. "So I saw the picture and just began to pray to keep this little girl and protect her, bring her back home safely."

Robert was on his route the following day, when he made a stop on Gratiot near Outer Drive, when that same 13-year-old girl walked in front of his bus.

"Something clicked in me to say look at this little girl, she's in the street," he said. "I asked if she could come on the bus. She actually got on the bus and I asked her, her name. It was the young girl who was missing. "

Police say the girl was in a dangerous situation on the street and dealing with some issues. She had been missing for days, when she was finally spotted.

"I said 'I just prayed for you yesterday,'" Anderson said. "'I prayed for you to be safe that you could go home to your family. Don't you know people are looking for you?'"

Anderson said the girl seemed nervous so he drove her around and talked her in to coming back to the bus station. He notified his supervisors who called police.

"We're proud of him as a driver," said Dan Dirks, DDOT director. "We're even more proud of him as a person. He just is what all good things of what we're trying to do at DDOT. I can't say enough about him."

The girl is safe and home again with her family. Robert calls it a miracle.