Child saves classmates after school bus driver suffers 'medical emergency'

A seventh grader has been awarded for his heroics in saving dozens of other children on a school bus Wednesday after the bus driver suddenly fell unconscious due to a “medical emergency”.

Dillon Reeves, a seventh-grade student at Carter Middle School in Michigan, and over 60 other children were traveling home on a school bus when the bus driver suddenly “became lightheaded and lost consciousness”. Reacting quickly, Reeves moved to the front of the bus, grabbed the steering wheel and regained control of the vehicle while instructing other pupils to dial 911.

Warren Consolidated Schools Superintendent Robert Livernois says he received a call from the driver just prior to the incident saying she was feeling ill and would be pulling over. After failing to do so, Reeves, who was sitting five rows behind the driver, committed his act of heroism.

"In my 35-plus years of education, this was an extraordinary act of courage and maturity on his part," Livernois said. "He ran to the front of the bus, grabbed the steering wheel and brought the bus to a stop in the middle of the road. 

"And he had the wherewithal to push the brake down slowly - likely in anticipation that the bus was full of passengers."

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up for the driver, who is “recovering from what doctors believe may have been a seizure.” The campaign notes she is a mother of three small children aged 8, 7 and 4 and is withholding her name from the media.

“What many of us may not realize, is that under Michigan law that bus driver will now be unable to operate a vehicle for a minimum of six months,” reads the fundraiser. “She is a dedicated school bus driver who gets up each day to get our children to and from school. She also works extra time taking students to field trips and school sporting events. She cares for each of the students on her bus as if they were her own.”

The driver will continue to receive 60% of her pay until June 15th when the payments will stop.

In a similar incident last year, fifth-grader Sujaan Singh saved a school bus full of other children in Reminderville, Ohio after the driver suffered a “medical emergency”.

School bus crashes in 2021 — the last year for which such data is available — killed 108 people, an unprecedented 50% jump from the year before. It is unclear how many of those crashes resulted from drivers falling unconscious.