MILPITAS, Calif. » A Northern California bus driver who spotted a 3-year-old boy and his kidnapper on his bus and alerted police is being hailed as a hero.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports bus driver Tim Watson spotted the boy in the company of a man Friday after hearing a 3-year-old had been kidnapped from the Milpitas Public Library.

Watson says he stopped the bus, announced that he was looking for a missing green backpack and casually looked at the boy’s shoes. They were red, just like the ones the missing boy was described as wearing.

He says he called his dispatcher, who in turn notified police. When the bus stopped at the Fremont BART station, police arrested 23-year-old Alfonso David Edington of Pittsburg.

Milpitas Police Chief Steve Pangelinan says Watson is an "absolute hero."