Share and Follow
It was an unforgettable driving lesson for one group of Mississippi students.
Displaying remarkable calmness and quick thinking, a group of children on a Mississippi school bus took control of a dangerous situation when their driver fainted while navigating a busy four-lane highway.
The incident unfolded just after the students departed Hancock Middle School in Kiln, Mississippi, on Wednesday. Their driver, Leah Taylor, suddenly experienced an asthma attack, causing her to lose consciousness.
Without hesitation, the students sprang into action.
Among them was 12-year-old Jackson Casnave, a sixth-grader seated directly behind the driver. As the bus began to veer off course, Jackson swiftly stood up and took hold of the steering wheel.
“I didn’t have time to process my emotions,” Casnave said. “I just wanted to make sure nobody got hurt.”
A classmate, 12-year-old Darrius Clark, hit the brakes and between them, they were able to get the bus off the road and put it in park.
Clark’s 13-year-old sister, Kayleigh, called 911, but said there were so many students screaming inside the bus, she couldn’t hear what the woman was telling her.
Other kids helped by finding Taylor’s nebulizer and administering the medication while another held her head.
“They saved my life,” Taylor said later.
And their classmates too.
A student also picked up Taylor’s phone, which was ringing, and told the district’s transportation team what had happened.
“I’m grateful for my students,” said Taylor, 46. “They’re the ones that saved my life and everybody else’s on that bus.”
The students were honored at a pep rally Friday and will be treated to a lunch field trip next week at a restaurant of their choosing.
“What they did took courage,” principal Dr. Melissa Saucier said. “They didn’t wait for somebody to step in, they stepped up themselves and that says a lot about their character.”
Post Wire Services