SEPTA bus driver and transit officer helps lost girl get home safely

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A North Philadelphia family is grateful for the help of a SEPTA transit officer after a 10-year-old got lost and ended up at the wrong SEPTA station, which was miles from her home.

It was an agonizing four hours for a family in North Philadelphia when their little girl never showed up at the bus stop after school.

It seemed like all hope was lost until a transit police officer stepped in to help.

Nala Hoskins, 10, is all smiles, sitting with her dad on the front steps of their home.

It's a place she wasn't sure she would be at again after getting lost while trying to get home after school last week.

"I forgot some of the ways to get home, so I got lost and I was trying to get on Bus 47, but I got on the wrong bus," recalled Nala Hoskins.

Nala ended up at The Frankford Transportation Center, which is one of the busiest SEPTA hubs, where hundreds of buses and trains carry thousands of passengers every day.

And Nala was all by herself.

"I was asking people, 'Do you know any buses I can get on to take to 8th and Diamond?'" Nala said.

She was eight miles away from home, where her parents were waiting for her to get off the bus.

And when she didn't show up, they panicked.

"That was like the scariest situation I've ever been through," said Nala's dad, Maurice Hoskins. "You know, as a father, it's like I'm helpless."

They called police to report that their daughter never made it home.

"I don't know where my daughter is at, and you know, she's in Philadelphia, so I'm like anything could have happened," Maurice recalled.

Meanwhile, Nala was trying to figure out what to do, especially because it was starting to get dark.

"Yea, I was a bit scared," she said.

But her luck was about to change, thanks to an alert driver.

"The bus operator saw the little girl on the bus and she seemed to be lost," said William Juliana, with SEPTA Transit Police.

That driver contacted Officer Juliana.

"I made contact with little Nala. She was extremely brave and confident," Officer Juliana said.

It turns out, while Nala didn't know her parents phone number, she did know her address. So, Officer Juliana drove her home, where her parents filed a missing persons report and were waiting along with Phialadelphia police for any word about their daughter.

Then, around 8:30 p.m. -- four hours after she was supposed to be home -- little Nala finally made it back to her parents.

"I was crying and I was hugging my mom," she said.

"I'm not an emotional guy but the first thing I did was grab my daughter. Make sure she was cool," her father said.

Officer Juliana said watching the family hold each other made him smile. And seeing everyone work together made his day.

"The police are always here to help and make you feel safe. Don't ever hesitate to approach," he said.

One lesson he says we can all take away from this is to make sure your child knows your address and phone number. You can even keep it written on a note in their bag, so they can call if something happens.