MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami-Dade County bus operator is being touted as a hero after saving a family from a sinking car.
Elijah Saleem, 34, was driving a bus northbound on Northwest 155th Street and 27th Avenue Monday night when he saw a car plunge into a canal.
“I noticed the car slam into a canal,” Saleem said. “I feel like, you know, anybody would’ve done what I did. I feel like it’s just a natural reaction.”
Without thinking, Saleem stopped the bus, secured it and waded into the water.
There, a father in his 20s was calling for help, asking Saleem to save his 1-year-old son.
“He just tossed me his son,” Saleem said, “so, I grabbed his son, and then I said, ‘Imma help you two come on out now,’ ’cause he said, ‘You know, we can’t swim.'”
Saleem got the child to safety, but then went back into the water to rescue the man and his girlfriend.
“I was just glad they’re OK,” Saleem said. “As that was going on, I was like, ‘All right, good. They OK. No one’s trapped inside of the car,’ so I was just like, ‘I just gotta get these people outta here.”
Saleem has been driving for the county since 2011.
Metrobus Divisional Superintendent Melvin Watson said, “It makes us very, very proud that we have the type of person here at this agency that cares about people.”
Saleem said he learned a special life lesson from the incident.
“Life is precious. Life is precious,” he said. “You don’t know what each day is gonna bring, and we just all have to be there for one another. I’m just glad that I was there, and I was able to help.”
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