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Bus Goes Off Road, Teen Knows Something Is Wrong. Hops onto Driver's Lap, Stops School Bus

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Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. From the war hero to a peace activist like Marin Luther King, Jr. there is no shortage of people to look up to.

And we all have our own personal heroes, people whose lives and work encourage us to be the best “us” we can be. For me it is folks like Kurt Vonnegut, Edgar Allen Poe, the composer (and inventor of sampling) Pierre Henry, etc.

And i’m sure all of you reading have your own heroes.

Well, we all have a few other names to add to that list. Karson Vega, and his classmate, Kyler Buzek, saved the lives of six students on a bus with their fast action and compassionate thinking.

“There was a reason,” Vega’s mother said, “he was on that bus that day.”

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The La Grange Middle School students were on the bus home when the driver began to act erratically.

“He missed a turn and went into a ditch. Then he had to back up, that’s when I started thinking… Then he started making circles and stuff. He was going off into a ditch on almost every turn,” Vega said.

Vega quickly called 911 while Buzek helped calm the smaller kids.

“I went and got the little kids. I told them to go to the back because they were sitting there crying and stuff. Then I told the other kid to hang on to them,” Vega reported.

Vega was able to jump onto the drivers lap and take control of the bus. Turning on the buses flashers he drove the bus two miles before bringing it to a stop over the Colorado River.

Buzek stayed on the phone with 911 the whole time. “I was like ‘no, I’m not dying’, so I jerked the wheel,” Vega said.



“[The bus driver] wouldn’t take his feet off so I kicked them over a little,” Vega said.

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“We would’ve all died. Because he was swerving off pretty much into the river and off that hill, too.”

Typically, Vega doesn’t take the bus home. On this day though, his mother was not able to pick him up from his after-school sports practice.

The driver has been taken to the hospital. Details were not available as to the nature of his medical emergency.

Thankfully, the boys’ quick thinking saved lives that day. I hope we will all be inspired by their actions.

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