Jacob Thomson, a school bus driver said he’s not a hero for helping when he saw a female student walking and acting uncomfortable as a man followed her.
“That instinct of being a dad, I guess, kicked in,” Thomson said Friday about why he drove the bus around the block to check on the student.
The Abilene Independent School District bus driver was starting his middle school route at about 7:30 a.m. Monday when he saw the older man following a teenage girl near the intersection of Butternut and South 16th street.
“I don’t know what he said to her, but he got her attention in some way. And, it startled her at first. That’s what kind of caught my eye to keep looking to make sure that everything was okay,” Thomson said.
I was very fortunate that God put me in the situation I was in because I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Thomson said. “Thirty seconds or one minute to unload a student at the school could have made all the difference in the world. I might not have been there.”
The student said the man tried to kidnap her and told her that he loved her and tried to offer a vape cigarette, Thomson said.
The student told the SRO the suspect had grabbed her hand and tried to drag her to an abandoned house.
Police said the man was a transient. He was charged with third-degree felony injury to a child, and his bond was set at $15,000. As of Friday afternoon, he was in the Taylor County Jail, according to online jail record.
