How did those middle school students do it?

How did two middle school kids take control of a bus after the driver slumped over? (MyNorthwest.com file photo)

Those two middle school kids in Milton, WA who took action
when their bus driver slumped over the wheel Monday
morning? How’d they know what to do?

Jeremy Wuitschick sounds like a pretty regular 13-year-
old, admitting he wasn’t exactly looking forward to going
to school yesterday and then…

“Then the bus driver starts convulsing, his eyes are
bulging, he’s making weird rasping noises, and his hands
are twitching.”

The security camera caught it all as the bus drifted off
the road and straight for a church.

“I grabbed the wheel, I turned it to the right, took it to
the side of the road, and took the key out of the
ignition.”

Jeremy essentially was thrust into a real-world test. A
real-world test of a random sample of students at Surprise
Lake Middle School in Milton, WA. And these kids were
prepared. For one thing, the school actually drills kids
in what to do when a driver is incapacitated, and in
Jeremy’s case his Mom had given him a little extra
tutoring.

“She lets me back the car out of the driveway so I can
give it a car wash. So don’t tell my dad that, ok?

Plus, he’d also done a little casual research on his own.

“Jeremy says he remembered a book he’d read in which a man
stopped a runaway bus by turning off the ignition.” –
Reporter

But it wasn’t just Jeremy. Young Johnny Wood ran up and
started giving the driver CPR, which he’d learned in a
school video.

“Exhilarating, you want to know if he’s OK, but then again
it’s happening so fast, you’re heart is pumping. It’s
breathtaking and breath giving.”

Prepared, brave, and articulate. Whatever that middle
school is doing, please keep on doing it.

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