This raw video, obtained by KING 5 News, an NBC affiliate, captures several tense minutes when a school bus driver lost consciousness Monday morning. The students rallied and managed to control the bus, which was careening out of control, headed for a church.
By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com
When a school bus driver in Milton, Wash. lost consciousness on the way to school Monday morning, two seventh-grade boys jumped to action, KING 5 News reported.
Footage from the bus’s surveillance camera shows the driver suddenly seizing, his hands flailing and his eyes bulging as they rolled back into his head.
Within a minute, a student noticed, pointed at the driver and jumped up to grab the wheel. The student then started pushing on the driver’s chest in an attempt to resuscitate him.
KING 5: Kids take wheel after bus driver passes out
From the back of the bus, Jeremy Wuitschick ran down the aisle. The 13-year-old later told KING that he has some driving experience because his mother allows him to drive down the driveway of their home.
By this point, the bus was out of control, headed for a church, according to KIRO TV News.
"The bus driver is acting all funny, he’s shaking,” Jeremy told KIRO News. “He's making weird rasping noises with his mouth."
Jeremy grabbed the wheel, turned it right, let the bus slow and pulled the keys out of the ignition.
On the road, drivers noticed the bus was out of control.
"I was driving and saw the bus coming at me and the kids were trying to take control of the bus," one caller told an emergency dispatcher, according to KING.
Back on the bus, student Johnny Wood, trained in CPR, rushed forward to help Jeremy.
"I ran up and tried doing chest compressions, but his eyes were rolling back and I could tell it was getting harder for him to breathe," Johnny told KIRO.
The driver, a substitute, was taken to a nearby hospital. His condition is unknown.
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