Boy, 13, Saves School Bus After Driver Loses Consciousness
As far as school days ago, there wasn't much for 13-year-old Jeremy Wuitschick to look forward to. It was Monday – even worse, the Monday after spring break.
But the Milton, Wash., 7th grader would become a school hero before he even made it to class.
En route to Surprise Lake Middle School, his bus driver lost consciousness, prompting Wuitschick to take the wheel, reports NBC's Today.
"The bus driver starts convulsing," he recalls. "His eyes are bulging. He's making weird rasping noises and his hands are twitching."
These moments unfold in the surveillance camera footage as he rushes from the back of the bus when the driver starts seizing. Out of control, the bus was heading for a church.
"I was just thinking about, 'I don't want to die,' " he says.
Wuitschick pulled over and slowed the bus down as he took the keys out of the ignition.
"Someone call 9-1-1-," he said, and another student, Johnny Wood, trained in CPR, then started performing chest compressions on the driver, who is in grave condition, according to his local newspaper, the News Tribune.
His Reward
Wuitschick's heroic deed did not go unnoticed by school officials.
"My principal said that I'm going to get free snacks [from the school snack bar]," he says, with a laugh.
The heroic deed probably won't go unnoticed by his father, either.
Wuitschick, who's too young to have a driver's license, says he knows how to drive because his mom lets him reverse her car out of the driveway when he washes it.
He adds: "Don't tell my dad that."
