Snowplow Driver Saves 5-Year-Old Who Wandered Off In Subzero Temperatures

A five-year-old boy who wandered outside in the middle of a snowstorm was rescued on the side of the road by a snowplow driver. David Gehrke climbed into his truck around 4 a.m. last Friday (February 12) to begin clearing the streets in the middle of the storm that was blanketing West Bend, Wisconsin, with snow.

"It was snowing, blowing, and miserable," Gehrke told WISN.

As he was plowing the streets, he noticed the boy wandering on the side of the road in the subzero temperatures.

"I realized that was not a dog or a deer. That was a small little boy just dressed in a pair of zip-up onesie pajammies," Gehrke said. "The light on the side of my truck illuminated him. At 4 a.m., what is he doing out here?"

Gehrke jumped out of his truck and found the boy walking without a jacket, hat, or shoes. He cranked up the heat in his truck and gave the boy his coat as he called the police.

"It was minus 5 degrees," Gehrke told the Washington County Insider. "I mean, the kid would have froze to death if I hadn't seen him. I checked him out, his hands were tucked in his jammies, and his feet were cold but not frostbit. He was a happy kid. He couldn't tell me where grandpa lived, but he had a lot of questions about the truck."

The boy hadn't wandered too far from his house, and officers drove him home. The boy thought he was home alone and decided to walk to his grandfather's house. Police learned that his 14-year-old aunt was watching him while his mother was at work.

The boy's mother said that she was shocked her son would wander off in the middle of the night and has since purchased cameras and alarms, so she will know if he tries to go for another walk in the middle of the night.

Photo: Getty Images