Coach Finds 4-Year-Old Abandoned On Side Of Highway

SWEETWATER- "There are some things in life that you never forget," Sweetwater Basketball Coach, Al Hunt, said. "That was one of them for me."

Tuesday started out like any other day for Al Hunt. Early that morning, Hunt was headed to a golf tournament in Eastland with his son Michael.

"I thought I saw an object on the guardrail, then he turned around," Hunt said. 'I thought, 'that's a kid.'"

Hunt was right. The four-year-old, who the police are calling "Angel", was walking down the median of the Interstate.

"My heart was pounding. As soon we got there, there were two 18-wheelers coming by side by side right for us," Hunt said. "I thought I was going to see something I didn't want to see."

Thankfully, Angel stood still. That's when Hunt ran across the highway and swiped him up.

It was a last minute decision that saved the child's life.

Sweetwater Police say Angel has been released from the hospital. He's currently in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Angel's father, 22-year-old Carlos Rico, told police that he abandoned his son because God told him to.

"His father said he had a 'divine intervention'," Sweetwater Police Chief, Jim Kelley, said. "He said that God told him to kill his son and throw him out, and that is what he did."

Police are trying to turn Rico's Child Endangerment charge into Attempted Murder or Attempted Capital Murder.

"I don't think we will need much [to charge him]," Kelley said.

While Rico told police that God made him do it, Al Hunt sees it quite differently.

"We're given opportunities every day to do something, I just hope we did right," he said.

It's an example to his own son, Michael, who says he just wants Angel to be safe.

"I hope that little boy gets a good family, that no one else does anything to that kid again," Michael said.