7th Grader Jeremy Wuitschick Saves Busload of Students - A Genuine Hero

Event was recorded by the bus video camera.

School bus image of passed our driver & heroic student.

(PORTLAND, OR) - A middle school boy in Washington was a true hero today when his school bus driver collapsed at the wheel, and the boy acted instinctively, taking control of the vehicle.

His quick thinking and action prevented the bus from crashing into a church. The story was was published by Portland TV station KGW tonight, credit for the report goes to Eric Wilkinson with KING 5 News.

He relates in his story that there were actually two seventh-graders who jumped in and saved the day for many kids riding in the bus that left the roadway after the driver coughed and then lost total consciousness. The two: Jeremy Wuitschick and Johnny Wood, acted without hesitation and Wuitschick's saving of the moving bus without a conscious driver was simply incredible.

The whole thing was recorded by the school bus video camera.

Not only did the boy steer the bus and shut the motor off so it could roll to a gradual stop without crashing, but he immediately began administering CPR to the bus driver, who within a short time, raised a hand... showing some form of revival.

In the article, Kids take wheel in WA school bus emergency , Wilkinson writes:

Seventh grader Jeremy Wuitschick realized what was happening and jumped into action.

“I ran up, grabbed the wheel … I turned it to the right, took it on the side of the road, took the keys out of the ignition. Bus started slowing down. I’m like ‘Somebody call 911’ and they did. Then Johnny Wood came up and he’s like ‘I know CPR.”

“The videos popped into my head and I was like ‘Somebody call 911. Try to clear the area and start doing chest compressions,’” said Wood.

Wuitschick is only 13, but he has some experience behind a steering wheel. He says his mother lets him back the family car out of the driveway when he washes it.

The Fife schools superintendent said the 12 and 13-year-olds on bus No. 29 were headed to Surprise Lake Middle School. -

Source: KGW.com

The KGW article stated that the bus driver, who was immediately transported from the scene by ambulance, was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way. It was not clear what happened to him, or if he recovered.

No students were injured, we contacted St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way and were unable to determine the condition of the bus driver, we will keep trying.

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Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

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