Heroic teenagers stop drifting school bus after driver passes out

Four Pennsylvania high school students brought their drifting school bus to a stop after the driver suffered a medical emergency on the ride home.

The bus, carrying Hollidaysburg Area School District students in Blair County, had just dropped off 10 junior high pupils on Sept. 17 when it started moving again, 12th-grader Skyla Horton told the Altoona Mirror. Her sister was the last one off.

Horton said the bus had been shaking the whole time it was stopped. Instead of turning at the corner, the driver kept going straight as his head began to bob.

Tenth-grader Alexis Smith, seated near the front, ran to the driver's seat after 12th-grader Travis Zerby told her to hit the brake. She said she first had to shove the gear shifter up, then held the foot brake down.

Smith checked the driver's pulse, which she found weak, and was starting to move him out of his seat when he came to. She kept monitoring his pulse and breathing until medics arrived, according to local broadcaster WTAJ, which published footage of the incident on Sept. 28.

Horton pulled the parking brake and opened the doors for air, while another student opened the rear door to get passengers off. Zerby radioed the bus operator, Fullington Bus Co., and 10th-grader Jenna Anderson called 911.

Smith told WTAJ she missed the first moments because she was texting, until her best friend pulled her out of her seat and told her to get to the driver.

Classroom training pays off

Smith and Horton credited Alisha Clingerman, their health and medical science teacher at the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center, with teaching them how to act in an emergency.

The driver has since recovered, been medically cleared to drive and returned to his regular route, according to WTAJ.

Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School Principal Breanne Venios reviewed footage from the bus and said every student involved deserved credit. "Not one cellphone was out recording," she told the Mirror.

Venios said the students listened and followed instructions, which she tied to the bus emergency drills they practice. School leaders commended all the junior high and high school students on board for staying calm and working together.