08/27/2026
August 27, 2026
MBCTA Bus Operator is a Hero x 2
When a Fixed Route bus operator clocks-in at the start of an eight-hour shift, his primary concern is safely transporting the passengers on his bus. But once in a great while — make that twice in nine months for transit authority bus operator Omari Frederick — in separate incidents he was suddenly pressed into service and saved two young boys from potential harm or worse.
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NOVEMBER 2025
Last November on a cold, foggy morning around 7:15 am while inbound on the Pio Nono/Rocky Creek bus Omari saw something coming toward him in the middle of the road. He thought it was an animal, but as he approached he saw that it was a child around three or four years old. He checked his mirrors, parked the bus in the road on a slant to create a protective barricade around the child, got off the bus and called to the boy who started running away from him. Omari caught and scooped up the shoeless child who was wearing thin, soaking-wet pajamas.
Following protocol, Omari called the transit dispatch office to apprise the supervisors of the situation and kept the child in the bus. In the meantime he spotted a shoeless woman, also under-dressed for the weather, running up the street toward the bus. When he opened the bus door the woman took the child from Omari without saying a word and headed back down the street.
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AUGUST 2026
While driving outbound on the busy Vineville Avenue/Zebulon Road route around 11:30 am Omari saw a toddler in a diaper standing on the sidewalk with an orange cat beside him and no adult in sight. He quickly parked the bus on the side of the road and brought the child onto the bus.
The child was chewing on an acorn (like squirrels eat) while holding another in his hand. A female passenger held the child while Omari called dispatch and because the boy was hungry, Omari gave him the only food he had on the bus — a small bag of Funyuns.
When the dispatch supervisor arrived he called the fixed route supervisor for further instructions. Around that time a woman came to the bus with a child in her arms asking about her grandbaby. As the supervisor left the bus to speak with the grandmother a vehicle pulled up. A woman on the passenger’s side took the child from the supervisor and the other child from the grandmother and left the scene.
Omari and the dispatch supervisor waited for a sheriff’s deputy to arrive, and both noted how patient and understanding the bus passengers were throughout the nearly 20-minute ordeal. Omari provided the deputy with a statement before continuing on his route.
Several days later while stopped at a traffic light on Napier Avenue a vehicle pulled up alongside Omari and the grandmother and her companion thanked him for saving her grandbaby.
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MBCTA buses are on Macon roads 16 hours a day Monday-Friday and 14 hours on Saturday. That’s a lot of street time, and much like law enforcement, our bus operators are asked to be alert for crime, or anything concerning, odd, or unusual. They see a lot on their daily routes.
When asked about the two incidents Omari Frederick said, “For several years I drove a bus in Brooklyn and in New York City. I learned to constantly scan the area around my bus while driving. When I saw the children alone, I didn’t want anything to happen to them. I knew I couldn’t keep going.”
You're our hero, Omari!
Macon-Bibb County American Public Transportation Association Macon Regional Crimestoppers
