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Teen hailed as hero after saving 2-year-old from busy intersection

"We all should care about each other and make sure we're all safe, like if you see other people out there, you should help each other out, just do the same thing and care about each other."
Credit: ABC10
13-year-old Adrian Castro rescued a 2-year-old girl who wandering out into a busy Modesto intersection with no parents in sight.

MODESTO, CA — A 13-year-old is being praised as a hero by police and his school after his quick thinking saved a 2-year-old girl who had wandered out in the middle of a busy road.

It happened near Modesto High School last week.

It was a usual Thursday for 13-year-old Adrian Castro. He hopped on his bike and headed to boxing practice right before the sun went down.

"There was this girl right across the street by herself and me and my friend saw her, and we were scared for her because she could have got run over," Castro said.

He was passing though a neighborhood behind Modesto High School when he noticed what looked like a 2-year-old year girl in the middle of the road, with no parents in sight, as a car was coming.

"We came over here and grabbed her quick, because the car was already somewhere in between there and the car was already coming, so we just ran to her, grabbed her and put her on the sidewalk," he said.

His quick thinking was able to save the young girl, but he still didn't know where she came from.

"We would point different directions to see if she actually knew where she lived and she would say yeah to each direction," he said.

That's when he made the choice to call 911 and wait until police showed up.

Police say, the child had somehow learned how to open the front door of her family's home, escaped and left the mother terrified, frantically searching for her daughter.

"The mom came and the mom was crying and she told me thank you," he said.

ABC10 sat down with Adrian's mom too, who couldn't believe it.

"I'm proud of him, I'm a happy mom, he always makes me proud, and I hope he never changes, he has a good heart," Maria Castro, Adrian's mother said.

Modesto police were so impressed by his quick thinking, they stopped by his middle school after the fact to surprise him with a gift card and a citizen challenge coin. His teachers added some movie tickets and extra treats too.

"He's even my hero, so he's very helpful to me and I believe that if that would happen again, he would do the same thing and help another person out," Maria said.

Maria hopes Adrian's actions will serve as an example to other teens out there.

"We all should care about each other and make sure we're all safe, like if you see other people out there, you should help each other out, just do the same thing and care about each other," Adrian said.

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