LAS VEGAS – Thanks to the actions of Eric Espinosa, a service technician with Burns Pest Elimination, a Las Vegas toddler who had wandered into traffic has been safely returned to his family.
While driving down a busy two-lane road in a residential neighborhood on Tuesday, Espinosa spotted, from a distance, what he thought was a toy, doll or perhaps a clothed dog in the middle of the road. “As I got closer, I could see it moving and I was shocked to see it was a baby, and that cars were whizzing past him,” said Espinosa, who estimated the child was about 18 months old (just old enough to walk).
Thinking quickly on his feet, Espinosa pulled his truck in the middle of the road to block off traffic and removed the toddler from harm’s way. Espinosa gave him water and tried to get as much information from him as possible to seek out his parents/caretakers from nearby houses. After getting no responses from neighbors, he called 911 and police arrived on scene within minutes.
Espinosa also called the company’s Las Vegas branch manager Becky Chudinis, who soon arrived on scene to help comfort the child.
After an hour had passed, the boy’s distraught father, who had been searching for him, arrived on bicycle. Evidently, the boy had been accidentally left alone at his grandfather’s apartment because of miscommunication between the grandfather and father, a Burns Pest Elimination spokesperson told PCT.
Espinosa said he was relieved everything turned out OK. “I have a two-year-old son and I gave him a tighter hug when I got home,” he said. “I’m happy that the company I work for put aside being managers and business owners, and were humans caring for kids.”
Mike Boyle, who handles public relations for Burns Pest Elimination, said although this situation was uncommon, it’s not unusual for Burns service professionals to perform good deeds that fall outside of the job description. “What brings a lot of people to [pest control] is they enjoy helping people. We are extremely proud of what Eric did because it symbolizes what we at Burns Pest Elimination are here to do, and that is to serve the public.”
A Cleveland, Ohio area native and Army National Guard veteran, Espinosa, age 32, has been working in pest control for 6 years, the last two with Burns Pest Elimination.