When the driver for Warren Consolidated Schools alerted her transportation base that she was feeling dizzy and needed to stop, she began slowing the bus but passed out, NPR reported Friday.
The bus, which was carrying multiple students, continued moving. That was when Dillon Reeves knew it was up to him to take control of the situation by grabbing the steering wheel.
While the other students appeared to panic, he calmly pushed the brakes and kept the vehicle from moving into oncoming traffic. Moments later, the young man instructed others on the bus to call 911 for help.
It was an “extraordinary act of courage and maturity,” Warren Consolidated Schools Superintendent Robert Livernois stated during a press conference following the incident.
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido also praised Reeves, noting that, “We always look to students who are leaders that make a different [sic] in our county. Thank you Dillon!”
The driver remains in the hospital where she is being tested and monitored. She must also undergo a screening for drugs. However, she has no past history of fainting and passed the required medical test for the job.
Ireta and Steve Reeves, the parents of the 13-year-old — who wants to be a hockey player or police officer when he grows up — said he knew how to operate the bus because he always paid attention to the driver, per the Detroit Free Press.
“(We) give praise to God, and just raising a good kid,” they said of their child.
Read the full story here.
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