Drake Bentley and Claudia Levens:
The Glendale-River Hills School District is spotlighting a heroic middle schooler who helped stop a school bus from veering into oncoming traffic after the driver lost consciousness.
Acie Holland III, an eighth grader at Glen Hills Middle School, said his mother’s mantra to always be aware of his surroundings came in handy on Wednesday evening, when the driver of school bus route 207 had a medical emergency resulting in her temporarily losing consciousness.
Holland told the Journal Sentinel that he started to sense something might be wrong when the driver quickly passed by his stop on the route. For a split-second, he thought she was just joking around. But when he saw the bus start to veer toward the wrong side of the road, he quickly sprang into action.
Just as the bus approached oncoming traffic, Holland rushed over, moved the driver’s foot off the gas pedal, applied the brake and securely parked the bus, according to a statement from Glen Hills Principal Anna Young sent to parents and shared on Facebook Thursday.
Holland then called 911 and ensured younger students were OK and instructed them to call their parents. Holland also contacted his grandmother, who is a nurse.