Students Take Action To Save Bus Drivers

by Andy Corbley

Good News Network

   When an Ohio school bus driver began to suffer a medical event, a brother and sister took action that may have saved her life.

   Footage taken from a surveillance camera inside the bus shows 8-year-old Catrina sitting in the seat nearest the driver, who began to have trouble breathing. Catrina asked if she was alright, and a shake of the head replied in the negative.

   The footage, released by Crestview Local Schools in Ashland, then shows Catrina run to the back of the bus and alert someone she knew she could count on: her 7th-grade brother Charlie.

   Charlie rushes to the front and uses the radio to call the school and alert them to the emergency, while an 8th grader named Kali also called 911.

   The driver, who was hospitalized and later discharged, had allegedly instructed all her regular riders how to use the radio to call the school in case of an emergency, and she said she was glad they remembered her instructions, according to ABC News.

   “When I realized that something was going on, [I] went up there and grabbed the radio and then called the school because I knew that that was the quickest way to get help,” Charlie told ABC affiliate WEWS.

   “My brother … in the inside when something’s going wrong, he’s scared but on the outside, he’s like calm and concentrated,” Catrina said..

   “The actions of these students were truly outstanding,”  said Crestview Local Schools Superintendent Jim Grubbs “They remained calm, communicated clearly, and helped one another in a situation that could have been much worse. Their families should be incredibly proud.”

   In a similar story with a happy ending ,an eighth-grader from Wisconsin is being hailed as a hero after grabbing hold of the wheel of his school bus after the driver lost consciousness.

   His heroics have earned him plaudits from the mayor’s office, city council, fire and rescue, and the police department, and the young man has said the incident has made him feel more confident.

   It started when Acie Holland III boarded his school bus as per his normal routine in April. He joked with the bus driver for a moment, then the driver put on some headphones, and the bus rumbled off.

   Holland told CNN he understood something wasn’t right when the driver began to appear dizzy. Soon after, her head dropped, but the bus continued to accelerate past a turn on the route.

   “She turned the corner and there’s another street that we usually turn on. She pressed the gas and went past the corner, and I looked up,” Holland said.

   Coming to the front, he found the driver unresponsive and the bus veering into oncoming traffic.

   In what he later described as a fight or flight situation, Holland moved the driver aside, took the wheel and safely parked the bus on the side of the road, calling 911 after it had come to a halt and telling each student to call their parents.

   The driver had suffered a medical emergency and would eventually have to go receive treatment, CNN reports. At first, Holland’s father, Acie Holland II, wasn’t sure if his son was telling the truth, but when it did eventually become clear, Holland Sr. said he wasn’t surprised.

   “He’s always been a person where he’s real quick on his feet. That’s one of my things that I know he’s capable of, not on the school bus, but just in general, being able to help someone in need,” Holland Sr. told CNN. “But I am proud of what he did.”

   Holland Sr. owns a garage, and Holland III says it’s around the shop that he had grown accustomed to the functions of automobiles enough to feel confidant grabbing the wheel of that bus.

   The school said that Holland’s leadership and compassion is something they witness daily, but that this incident took it to the next level.