Students who stopped moving bus after driver lost consciousness honored
Dec 31, 2023, 5:12 PM | Updated: Jan 1, 2024, 7:34 am
A group of South Sound high school students were honored after stopping a moving school bus in December when their driver had a medical emergency. (Photo courtesy of Pierce County's Sheriff Department)
(Photo courtesy of Pierce County's Sheriff Department)
A group of South Sound high school students were able to stop a runaway school bus in mid-December after their driver had a medical emergency, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department reported Sunday.
According to a post on the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department blotter, while transporting students from both Franklin Pierce High School and Washington High School on 112th Street E near Waller Road E on Dec. 12, a school bus driver started experiencing “disturbing” symptoms while the bus was in motion. The driver was able to use the public address system and said something similar to “Somebody call for help!” as he started to lose consciousness.
Two of the Washington students called 911, while a third student left his seat, took the steering wheel and “pulled the emergency brake to bring the bus safely to a halt,” the post reads.
Another student used the bus radio system to contact authorities while a fifth held the driver’s head and comforted him.
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The driver was transported to MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital for further evaluation and, as of Sunday, was doing fine. The blotter post states that is the case, “thanks to these young people who acted calmly and bravely during an emergency to save their bus driver and everyone else on the bus that day.”
The blotter post concludes by noting that the students were honored “for stepping up in a tense situation” at an assembly before school broke for Christmas break last week.
