An Ohio school bus driver knew exactly what to do when one of the students on her bus was almost injured.
Video footage from Tecumseh Local Schools in New Carlisle shows the moment the bus driver stops to let the student off, a moment that quickly turned dangerous, Fox News reported Saturday.
As the student nears the door, the driver appears to look up into the rearview mirror, then yells, “Whoa! Wait, wait! No! Stay, stay!”
She quickly grabs onto his backpack, and pulls him further into the bus to a sitting position on the floor. Moments later, a vehicle is seen pulling up just outside the bus door where the student could have been hit:
“Oh my goodness, if I would have been a second late or something, or not have seen it, he would have gotten hit,” bus driver April Wise told Good Morning America (GMA).
She said the young man is one of her “quickest students” who tries to hurry when he gets off her bus. “It was just mother instincts kicked in, and it was like, ‘I’ve gotta make sure the child is okay,’” she added.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, school buses are considered one of the safest vehicles on the roadways, but children are at a higher risk when approaching or exiting a school bus.
“Illegal school bus passing poses a significant threat to children and others on the road. In every state, it is illegal for you to pass a school bus while the stop-arm is extended and the red lights are flashing,” the agency said.
Tecumseh Local Schools Superintendent Paula Crew told GMA she and her colleagues see such incidents frequently.
“This is not the first time that we’ve had a driver save a student and have video of it,” she explained.
Following the rescue, state officials honored Wise for knowing what to do in such a tense moment:
State Representative Bernard Willis, Clark County Commissioner Lowell McGlothin, Ohio State Trooper Mark Murray, TLS SRO…
Posted by Tecumseh Local Schools on Monday, February 27, 2023
Crew said the student’s mother expressed her deepest thanks, adding that when her son arrived home, he told her the bus driver saved his life.
However, Wise did not expect to get so much positive attention because, “I just see myself as just doing my job.”
