Toddler rescued from traffic by former police officer

TUSTIN, Calif. — Unbelievable dash cam video out of California shows a toddler playing in the middle of the road with no parent in sight. Luckily, a retired police officer happened to be in the right place at the right time and the rescue was caught on camera.

A toddler was unsupervised and just steps away from the path of several cars in Tustin as Darryl Pang, who is a retired police officer, recorded the frightful moments on his dash cam Saturday.

Pang, who takes his own grandkids to the same park, made a quick U-turn. In the distance was the little blonde boy in the gutter, alone, with his ball by his side.

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"I got to here waiting for a parent to come running up. I honk the horn, seen a bunch of parents off to the side trying to get their attention to see if some would come up. I didn't want to scare the kid," Pang told KCAL.

As Pang inched his car closer, the boy began to move, picking up his ball just as another driver sped by. The toddler bounced the ball and kicked it out into traffic just as Pang came into view of the camera and the boy steps out into the road. Pang motioned for cars to stop and picked up the boy, who made it  to the center of the road.

"We were taught a thousand years ago in high school drivers ed the little kid chasing the ball in the street. It still happens. It still happens," said Pang. "I'm actually thinking that at any moment now a parent is going to come running up because that's what usually happens, you'll get somebody panicked to come running up, and it didn't happen."

Once the boy was safe in Pang's arms, a man walked out to the street. He stretched out his arms for the child, mumbled something that Pang didn't hear, waved and went back to the park.

CNN/KCAL