Five middle school students are being hailed as heroes after jumping in to stop their school bus when their driver lost consciousness.
“I had a medical emergency, and the students stepped up,” Leah Taylor, a school bus driver in Hancock County, Mississippi, told ABC News South Mississippi affiliate WLOX.
The 45-year-old said she was driving a bus full of students on her usual route last Wednesday when she said she had an asthma attack and passed out.
Five Hancock middle school students jumped into action when their school bus driver lost consciousness while driving.
Hancock County School District
“She kind of, sort of, like, fell over, like flopped over, and everyone started standing up,” student McKenzy Finch recalled to WLOX.
In school bus surveillance video provided to ABC News by the Hancock County School District, five Hancock Middle School students can be seen working as a team to stop the bus and assist Taylor.
“I saw that the bus was veering off to the side, then I grabbed the wheel,” Jackson Casnave, another student, told WLOX.
Meanwhile, Darrius Clark, a sixth grader, hit the brakes.
“The bus started rolling forward. It started like, gaining speed, so when I clicked the brakes, it about threw me out the windshield,” Darrius said.
Kayleigh Clark, an eighth grade student, dialed 911, and Destiny Cornelius, also an eighth grader, gave Taylor her medicine.
“I saw her medication in her hand, and I saw her reaching for it. I knew that’s what she needed,” Destiny said.
The five students said they all worked together until first responders arrived and tried to keep the other students on the bus calm.
Taylor said she thanked each of the students who came to her rescue the next day the next time she picked them up on the bus.
“I can’t thank these students enough for saving everybody’s life because it could have turned out so much worse,” Taylor said.
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Hancock Middle School Principal Dr. Melissa Saucier told ABC News in a statement that she wasn’t surprised at the students’ heroic actions.
“This is who our students are at Hancock Middle School. They care. They lead. And when it matters most, they step up before even having to be told,” Saucier said via email.
“Our Hancock Middle School community is so incredibly proud of them. I hope that when people hear this story, they are reminded that there is so much good in this next generation. We just have to pay attention,” Saucier added.
