Detroit daycare bus driver picks up random children in the cold, gets backlash

Amateur bus driver under fire for picking up students in the cold

Darrell Beaver feels he's doing a good deed by picking up students in the freezing cold for rides to school. 

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit daycare bus driver is catching heat for randomly picking up school kids that he is *not* authorized to pick up.

The backstory:

Darrell Beaver drives a bright yellow bus, and a lot of people are talking about it.

"I was feeling bad, feeling for my community," he said. "I have an actual contracted route in the area and as I was leaving, I noticed there were a lot of kids walking in the cold."

Beaver is not a contracted bus driver for Detroit Public Schools Community District — he says his contract is with a day care facility.

But that didn’t stop him from randomly offering kids rides to school on Wednesday, all while live-streaming on Facebook.

"This is not a normal thing for me, I just jumped into help mode - like it was freezing," he said.

Labrit Jackson is the DPSCD Department of Public Safety chief of police.

"Removing this gentleman from the equation, we don’t have any information or evidence to suggest he had any nefarious intention," Jackson said. "But (we're) just really focusing on sending the message to our young people do not get into vehicles with strangers."

Alana Jackson is a concerned parent.

"Who knows in this day and age who knows what you want to do with someone else’s children," she said. "But even with insurance liability issues, with safety issues, with stranger danger issues, it’s totally inappropriate."

DPSCD has a message for Darrell Beaver.

"These are children that are most likely taught to be not disrespectful to adults," Jackson said. "So do not put them in position where they have to be defiant and tell you no."

Beaver says it is all about lending a helping hand to those who need it.

"I’m trying to help out, I don’t get a dime for it," he said. "So again, I understand everyone’s concerns, but my intentions are not bad at all."

Investigators say they don’t plan to press charges against Beaver — they just want him to stop, which he has agreed to.

Daycare bus driver surprises woman with free car

A family in need got a much needed surprise, courtesy of Darrell Beavers.

Beavers, however, wasn't done helping others. He gifted a new SUV to a deserving family (see video above). 

A single mom with children was given the gift with only one request by Beaver - pay it forward and help someone else in need - when she is able to.

The kids were just so excited - they just wanted to sit in the toasty warm car.

It was a big surprise the family told FOX 2 they never expected.