Bus driver helps reunite missing boy with his family
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police have credited a fast-thinking city bus driver for helping reunite a Wahiawa family with a 9-year-old boy reported missing Dec. 28.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Bus driver Lynette Burdett-Lopez recognized missing boy Daniel Gilman and his grandfather Derick Gilman as the two stepped onto her bus Sunday afternoon in 'Aiea. Police were on the lookout for the elder Gilman, who does not have legal custody of the child, after he took the boy from a family get-together on Christmas Day.
After informing police that Daniel Gilman, who was reported missing Dec. 28, was on her bus Sunday, Lynette Burdett-Lopez comforted the boy. Police credit her with reuniting the boy with his family.
But after Burdett-Lopez's two-way bus radio malfunctioned, the driver stalled for time until police arrived by telling her passengers that she had to pull the bus aside to fix a small mechanical leak.
"I recognized the boy as Daniel off the bat," said Burdett-Lopez, who was driving her Route 40 bus along Kamehameha Highway about 1:15 p.m. when she picked up the two in front of the HomeWorld furniture store.
Burdett-Lopez said she remembered the boy after reading about his disappearance in Saturday's Advertiser. The Pearl City bus facility where she works also has a bulletin board of missing people for bus drivers to watch for and it included a flier of Daniel.
"As a mom you become more aware of those things," said Burdett-Lopez, 34, who lives in Ma'ili and has an 8-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
But because the communications radio on Burdett-Lopez's bus wasn't working, she couldn't contact bus dispatch to call police. While the Gilmans sat in the bus' third row, Burdett-Lopez discreetly asked other passengers if they had a cellular phone she could use. Nobody did.
"I knew if I stopped the bus to go phone for help, the grandfather might suspect something and get off right away," Burdett-Lopez said. "So I slowly drove along the route hoping I could flag down a police car."
Derick Gilman
Daniel Gilman
Burdett-Lopez pulled the bus over at 2305 Kamehameha Highway in Kalihi after signalling bus stop supervisor John Chong, who was driving by in a company maintenance truck. The two decided to tell the passengers they had to stop the bus to repair a minor fluid leak, when they actually contacted police with Chong's radio and waited for arriving officers.
"It took police 10 minutes to arrive, but for me it felt like two hours," Burdett-Lopez said. "My adrenaline was just flowing."
Police arrived at 2:05 p.m. and arrested Derick Gilman for investigation of custodial interference, along with three outstanding warrants for contempt of court and attempted theft.
Burdett-Lopez said she tried to comfort Daniel on a bus stop bench after police arrested the grandfather.
"I asked him if his name was Daniel and he started crying," Burdett-Lopez said. "He seemed really confused by the situation, and that he wanted to go home."
Detective Erik Iinuma of HPD's Family Violence Detail, which is handling the case, said Daniel has been returned to his grandmother and legal guardian, Dee Stewart. Derick Gilman, 49, is her ex-husband. The boy had no physical injuries, the detective said.
Iinuma thanked Burdett-Lopez, a city bus driver for seven years, for thinking on her feet. "We're all just glad this one ended happily," he said. "The bus driver was really alert and did all the right things."
Daniel's grandmother left a phone message for Burdett-Lopez to thank her for her quick actions.
"My grandson told me he was aboard TheBus driven by a lady," Stewart said in the voice mail. "He didn't quite understand what was going on except to say he's glad to be back home with us. It's comforting to know that people such as yourself take the extra time to observe a missing child case."
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.
