A normal afternoon quickly turned into a nightmare for Hollidaysburg Area School District students recently. On the afternoon of Sept. 18, Alexis Smith’s bus driver experienced a medical emergency, which caused him to lose control of the bus.
Smith and several other students immediately jumped into action, according to a Facebook post from the school district, and her quick thinking saved a bus full of students. The district commended the teen for her courage under pressure.
“Alexis took immediate action, safely bringing the bus to a stop, using the radio to call for emergency help, and assessing the driver’s pulse and respiration until medical responders arrived,” a post featuring a picture of Smith explained.
Her story is now going viral, and the district has shared footage of the scary moment with several national news outlets, including ABC News. Smith is also sharing a bit about what went through her mind at the moment, and how she felt ready to take action when it all went down.
Video Shows the Driver Slumping Over During Drop-Off
There were some scary moments in the video shared by ABC News, which featured the district’s footage from the bus on the afternoon everything happened. The driver can be seen stopping to let a group of students off, and everything appeared normal at first. But before everyone could exit the bus, the vehicle suddenly jumped forward, startling the teens.
“I thought maybe we were just going around the corner again,” Skyla Horton told the outlet, describing the moment the bus began moving before she could get off.
A Friend Alerted Smith to the Emergency
You can see the male driver slumped over in his seat as several students begin to raise their voices. That’s when Smith said her friend pointed out that something was wrong.
“A couple of students got off, maybe like two or three, and then he slowly started drifting forward,” Smith recalled. “And then his head went down.”
Smith can be seen rushing to the driver’s side a moment later, where she and Horton worked together to engage the bus’s brakes, bringing it to a stop.
“I pulled the parking brake, and then I opened the bus door for more airflow for the bus driver,” Horton told ABC News.
Once they had the bus under control, they radioed for help.
The Driver Was Cleared To Return To Work
NBC’s WJAC says that the driver suffered from heat stroke, which prompted him to lose control. It sounds like Smith was able to help him in this situation thanks to her training through the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center’s health and medical science program.
Smith told ABC News that the driver eventually came back to work. “He is my regular bus driver. Now, like when I go to the bus, he’ll make like a little joke — ‘Our hero,'” Smith revealed.
He’s not the only one giving Smith a hero’s welcome. In addition to the driver and the school district, many people in the comments of the ABC News story also celebrated the teen.
“Great work, girls! Heroes,” one person wrote.