Veteran mail carrier Robert Batley knows his unincorporated Adams County delivery route intimately, so he was quick to spot an outlier Wednesday — a toddler walking along the median as traffic rolled by.

Batley, who has been delivering mail for 16 years, had what he described as a cinematic experience when he rescued the 2-year-old girl who had left her home without her grandfather noticing.

The diapered, shoeless girl was walking alone along the 7800 block of Zuni Street.

“I did a doubletake,” Batley said. “Cars were going by like it was nothing. My heart just sank. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, she’s going to walk in front of somebody.'”

Batley dropped his mail and took off in his postal service truck toward the girl with his lights flashing.

“I got to her and grabbed her hand and walked her to the sidewalk,” he said. “She wasn’t crying or anything. It was like she was just out for a stroll.”

Batley looked around for a potential parent or guardian but didn’t see anyone coming to find the toddler, so he called 911. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office showed up to find the baby’s home.

The baby didn’t respond when asked where she lived, so the sheriff’s office went door to door to find the parents of the child, said Adams County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Jim Morgan.

Law enforcement found the baby’s grandfather who didn’t realize the child was gone, Morgan said. The grandfather was written a summons for misdemeanor child abuse, he said, and the child was released to her parents who were both at work at the time.

“I was happy that no one grabbed her,” Batley said. “That she didn’t end up in the wrong hands. It feels good to be a hero for one minute.”

After Batley handed the baby over to authorities, he continued on his route.

“I’ve seen a lot of things as a mail carrier — that’s for sure — but this probably takes the cake,” Batley said.

Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez@denverpost.com or @ehernandez