Children get on the school bus trusting the driver to bring them safely to school then safely back home. It’s easy to become oblivious to the driver all together until it’s too late if something were to go wrong.
Maybe a good number of the kids were groggy, trying to welcome back dreamland until a pothole introduced a head to a pane of glass, bringing them sharply back to reality. They were just about to arrive at Surprise Lake Middle School.
That’s when young Jeremy Wuitschick happened to look up and see the driver slumping over. His hands flailed down at his sides as if he were trying to get someone’s attention. Well, he certainly caught Jeremy’s attention.
The boy knew immediately that something was wrong. Their driver looked funny…his eyes bulging out of his head, at the same time rolling back as if to look at his own brain.
This all happened in a matter of seconds for Jeremy. His brain jolted into the realization that something was wrong. His mouth screamed a vocalization of his brains activity. Instinctively, his body rose from his seat and flashed to the driver’s side.
With an urgency to control the death trap they found themselves in, he grabbed the now independently moving steering. He pulled it gently away from danger and neatly back on the road.
He brought the bus to a safe stop, but he wasn’t done yet. He screamed to the other dozen kids on the bus to call 911 while he looked over the driver.
Then he remembered a superhero character he read about in a book. The protagonist was riding in a runaway bus similar to this! A sidekick called to him on the radio, instructing him to take the keys from the ignition. So that’s exactly what Jeremy did, just to be sure.
He brought his attention back to the driver, who sounded and looked as if he was choking, but the middle schooler knew better. Just then, Johnny Wood appeared next to him. Johnny had just recently learned CPR and this was his chance to put his knowledge to use.
No sooner did the bus come to a stop, school staff member John McCrossin who happened to be riding behind barged inside and attempted to resuscitate the driver.
Unfortunately, the driver did not survive the heart attack he suffered.
Milton Police Chief Bill Rhodes complimented Jeremy’s bravery,
“I’ll tell you, I’ll give the kid credit for fast thinking. He did the right thing and we’re going to do something for him. The kid definitely deserves credit.”
That must have been such a scary ordeal for those kids, but kudos to Jeremy and Johnny for throwing their fear aside to save their fellow students from a potential disaster.
Article via: ABC News
