PEABODY, MASS. (WHDH) - A good Samaritan has been credited with saving a 2-year-old girl who was found walking in the middle of a street after wandering away from a daycare facility in Peabody on Friday morning, officials said.
Joann Cronin spotted the toddler on Lowell Street around 8 a.m., picked her up, and brought her to safety, according to the Peabody Police Department.
“All of a sudden, I’m just going along, and I just see this little girl in the middle of the street,” Cronin said. “I just went up to her, and I said, ‘How are you,’ and she was crying. Still, no one came looking for her. I had been there for 20 minutes. Poor little thing. And her poor parents suffered a lot, thinking she’s going to be watched over. I’m thankful she’s OK. That’s all that matters.”
The toddler was dropped off at a nearby Sunoco gas station, where she was later picked up by police.
An investigation determined that the girl had wandered away from Watch a Tot. Police say the daycare was “unaware of the toddler’s location for at least 25 minutes.”
The daycare was ordered to shut down and the Department of Children and Families was notified of the incident.
“The Department of Children and Families received a report and is investigating,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
The child was not injured and reunited with her mother at the Peabody Police Department.
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