- A Michigan 7th grader pulled off a heroic act after his bus driver lost consciousness at the wheel.
- The student, Dillon Reeves, sprung into action, stopping the vehicle and asking people to call 911.
A Michigan seventh grader, who took control of his school bus after the driver passed out, told his parents that he knew what to do because he watched the driver do it every day.
The student was riding the bus home from Lois E. Carter Middle School in Warren, Michigan, on Wednesday when the bus driver "became lightheaded and lost consciousness," the district superintendent, Robert Livernois, said in a statement.
Livernois wrote that the "quick-thinking" seventh grader — who was later identified as Dillon Reeves — "saw the driver in distress, stepped to the front of the bus, and helped bring it to a stop without incident."
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Livernois said Reeves had the "wherewithal" to know not to slam on the hand brake, but to instead slowly press down on it until the bus safely eased to a stop.
The boy's stepmother, Ireta Reeves, told reporters at the press conference that when she asked her son how he knew exactly how to stop the bus, he referred to the bus driver, who he had watched do it every day.
In the video, Dillon Reeves stops the bus and is heard telling his fellow students, "Someone call 911, now!" Students can be heard screaming in the background.
His father, Steve Reeves, added that it probably helped that his son does not have a cellphone, which makes him more observant of his surroundings.
Livernois said that once the bus came to a stop, two Good Samaritans — one who was walking nearby and a driver in another vehicle — stepped in to help the students out of the bus's emergency exit before first responders arrived three to four minutes later to treat the driver.
None of the students were injured in the incident. The 40-year-old bus driver was taken to the hospital — and her condition is "stable but with precautions," Warren Fire Commissioner Skip McAdams told CNN.
Livernois estimated that the bus was carrying about 66 students and that Reeves' actions "made all the difference in this crisis."
"Dillon has been a great guy this year," his stepmother said at Thursday's press conference. "To do something like this fills my heart… makes my heart skip a beat. I'm extremely proud of him."