It was an afternoon walk from school that 13-year-old Gian Cross won’t soon forget.
The Neptune Middle School student walking to the gym with some friends along Neptune Road in Kissimmee last February when something caught his eye.
“We were just walking, cracking jokes and we saw the kid. We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we need to help him,’” Gian said.
There in the middle of a very busy road was a boy, not much older than Gian, acting erratic, confused and, according to Gian, in danger.
“It looked like a car had dropped him off,” Gian recalled.
With traffic passing by, Gian and his friends got the boy safely out of the roadway and called police.
“We calmed him down, then tried to get info about his family, but he didn’t know anything. That was pretty sad,” Gian said.
Gian said police officers arrived quickly and took over, and he and his friends continued on to the nearby gym.
But word of the event traveled quickly.
Gian was awarded the “Good Citizenship Award” by his school, and family friend Dana Mayer nominated him for the News 6 Getting Results Award.
“He’s a role model to adults,” Mayer said. “No one else stopped on the side of the road to help this kid. Gian had to help. He’s teaching us the basics of humanity: Just be kind to everybody.”
Gian says it was scary in the moment, but he’s glad he was there to help.
“It’s a cool feeling,” Gian said of the attention his kind act has received. “I like it a lot.”