Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon did not wait for a hearing or a motion on Friday afternoon. He sprinted into rush-hour traffic near Poplar Avenue and South Highland Street to pull a wandering toddler away from oncoming cars, handing the child back to her father moments later. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, driving nearby, watched the whole thing unfold from the road.
How the rescue unfolded
Sugarmon told Action News 5 he had been running errands near the Petco on Poplar when he heard a father frantically calling for his daughter. Looking up, he spotted the toddler slipping between parked cars and heading toward the busy street.
He said he started waving his arms to get drivers to stop, then ran into the traffic himself, scooped up the child, and carried her out of the lane as another car "was flying" past in the next lane. According to Action News 5, the toddler was not injured and was quickly reunited with her father.
Who is Judge Tarik Sugarmon?
Tarik B. Sugarmon is the elected judge of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, a role he has held since his election in August 2022. He oversees both the court’s administrative functions and its services divisions, a job that usually keeps him behind the bench instead of in the middle of an intersection.
His office highlights a restorative, trauma-informed approach to juvenile justice, focusing on prevention and rehabilitation rather than punishment alone, as outlined on the Juvenile Court's website.
Mayor Lee Harris witnessed and praised the rescue
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris happened to be driving in the same stretch of road during the incident and later took to X to commend Sugarmon’s quick reaction. Harris said he had "no doubt" the toddler would have been struck by a vehicle if the judge had not stepped in. His post and Sugarmon’s account of the rescue were reported by Action News 5.
Parking lots and 'dart-out' danger
Safety researchers have a name for close calls like this: "dart-out" events, when a child suddenly appears in the path of traffic from between parked vehicles. A 2024 study in Injury Epidemiology found that nearly half of pedestrian injuries among children ages 0 to 9 involved dart-out crashes and noted that higher vehicle speeds and larger vehicles increase the odds of severe injury.
Sugarmon said the incident was a sharp reminder to parents and caregivers to keep very young children within arm’s reach and to avoid distractions while unloading cars or walking through parking areas. Neighbors and local officials have praised the judge’s split-second decision; the toddler is safe, and Memphis has one more story about how quickly a routine errand can turn into a life-or-death moment in the span of a single step toward the street.
