AUBURN – Police said a toddler found wandering near a busy road Tuesday was quickly reunited with his mother, but the incident remains under investigation.

The episode unfolded on Route 4 in Auburn. Police were alerted after the toddler, wearing only a diaper, was spotted near a Rite Aid.

Laurie Nickerson of Turner alerted Rite Aid employees and corralled the youngster with help from another bystander. She said she was “flabbergasted” to see the boy on a busy road and that he would have been hit if she hadn’t stepped in.

Police and the state Department of Health and Human Services were investigating.