Teen Bus Driver Heart Attack

Teen steers runaway school bus to safety after driver keels over in fatal heart attack blocking the brakes

A driverless school bus traveling with over three dozen passengers was saved Tuesday when a 17-year-old took the wheel after its driver keeled over to a heart attack.

Graceann Rumer, a senior at Calvary Christian Academy in Philadelphia had just started driving two weeks prior when she said she heard a loud noise and looked up to see her driver laying on the floor.

'I just realized that there's no one driving this bus, I need to do something,' Graceann told NBC Philadelphia.

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Grabbing the wheel, the girl was able to steer the moving vehicle despite the fallen driver, 51-year-old Charles Duncan, blocking her reach of the brake pedal.

Witnesses on board next say she managed to turn the bus in a U-turn to prevent it from colliding with oncoming traffic, eventually slowing it down where she then placed it in park. teen bus fatal heart attack

'I usually panic at like everything but I just reached over... grabbed the wheel and I pulled it over to the side and got off the road,' Graceann said.

'We had three of our children on the bus as well as dozens of other kids and the outcome could have been much different, so she did something very heroic,' parent Renee Lawsin told NBC Philadelphia.

But Graceann says it wasn't her being a hero, but her fortunate to have recently started driving classes as well as being seated at the front.

The driver, Mr Duncan, later died at a hospital.

'He was a great guy, always had a great smile on his face. Kids loved him,' said Karen Keating of First Student Transportation to NBC Philadelphia.

The school has since offered counselling services for students on board the bus.

Some are reported to have prayed for the driver as he lay on the floor while others shielded the bus' younger passengers from the scene.

None of the students were reported injured.

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092275/Graceann-Rumer-Philadelphia-teen-steers-runaway-school-bus-safety.html#ixzz1kfmd6kym