A driving instructor who just happened to stop by a high school, which was closed for the summer, is now being hailed as a hero for rescuing two abandoned children: a baby and a toddler.
John Belyea stopped by Lamphere High School in Madison Heights, Michigan — a meeting spot for Official Driving School. He was preparing to switch out students during a session and he went to use the restroom. But then he heard a strange sound.
“When I came over here (toward the entrance), I’m listening, it’s a weird noise like two cats fighting,” he told ClickOnDetroit. “Something’s wrong. So I started making loud noises trying to scare them off, and I’m like, wait a minute, that’s not cats. I’m thinking, ‘That sounds like a baby.’ … I didn’t see nothing, and so I walked over where I heard the noise from over in the corner and around behind the wall and that’s where the two infants were at.”
That was when he saw the two children. The baby had been left in a car seat with a blanket on top, and the toddler is said to be one or two years old. There was a note left with the children, but police have not released information regarding what was written in that note.
“The one that was screaming, I want to say, kind of saved her brother, sister, or whoever because if I don’t hear that noise, I don’t go over around here and see them,” Belyea said. “I know whoever did this they were in a bad situation, and I also feel bad for the young kids because I don’t know how long they were there for.”
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Belyea called 911 immediately, and both children were taken to the hospital. Police have since arrested a 20-year-old woman in connection with the case, but have not said if she is the mother of either of the children. Police did say the parents of the children had been located.
Michigan’s Safe Haven law allows newborns to be safely relinquished if they are less than three days old.
