US teen saves the day as school bus driver faints

WASHINGTON: A 13-year-old American boy became a hero by managing to safely stop a school bus carrying dozens of kids when the driver lost consciousness.

The drama unfolded on Wednesday in the northern state of Michigan, when a teenager named Dillon Reeves got up and grabbed the steering when he saw the driver had fainted, and brought the vehicle to a halt in the middle of the road using the hand brake, school district superintendent Robert Livernois said.

The bus was carrying nearly 70 students from Lois E. Carter Middle School in the town of Warren when the driver lost consciousness, as seen in a video released by the authorities. Children are heard screaming as Reeves takes control of the bus and yells out for someone to call the 911 emergency rescue service number.

“The City of Warren is very proud of our 7th Grade Hero Dillon Reeves,” Warren city councilor Jonathan Lafferty wrote on Facebook. “This young man jumped into action when his school bus driver experienced a medical emergency, bringing the bus to a stop and avoiding what could have been a very tragic accident,” he wrote.