Ebro Ahmed jumped onto a moving Battle Creek Middle School bus in Saint Paul on Monday afternoon and helped bring it to a stop after he saw the driver having a medical emergency. The bus was rolling down the street at about 10 mph with its doors wide open and its lights flashing when Ahmed moved in.
The 27-year-old said the moment shook him, but he kept calm and tried to get the bus into park. Ahmed had never been behind the wheel of a bus before. Even so, he stepped in while 19 students were aboard, and none of them were hurt.
Ahmed said he works at a nearby store and noticed the bus pass by in a way that did not look right. He said he saw the driver obviously having a medical emergency and thought fast enough to climb aboard. He said he briefly put the bus into reverse before shifting it into neutral and pulling the parking brake, a sequence that left him hearing beeps as the bus began to move backward.
He later said he looked behind him and saw children scared, crying and getting their phones out to call the police. Afterward, he said, the driver was coming to but was still out of it. That was the gap in the moment: Ahmed had stopped the bus, but he still did not know what had caused the driver to collapse.
Saint Paul Public Schools said a second bus eventually came to pick up the students and continue the route. The district did not provide information on the driver’s condition, but Ahmed said the driver was getting a little bit better after the emergency. He credited Grey's Anatomy with helping him stay calm, saying the show taught him not to panic when everything was suddenly moving fast. Ahmed said any person in his position would likely have done the same thing, but the result was plain enough: 19 students got off that bus unharmed, and a route that could have turned dangerous ended without injuries.
