Quick-thinking middle school students in Mississippi averted a potentially catastrophic school bus crash after their driver lost consciousness due to an asthma attack while navigating a four-lane highway. The incident occurred on Wednesday shortly after the bus departed from Hancock Middle School in Hancock County, carrying approximately 40 children.
Driver’s Medical Emergency
Leah Taylor, 46, the bus driver, experienced an asthma attack and reached for her medication but blacked out before she could administer it. In a matter of seconds, the students sprang into action, preventing what could have been a serious accident.
Students Take Control
Sixth grader Jackson Casnave, 12, who was seated directly behind the driver, noticed the bus beginning to swerve. Without hesitation, he jumped up to steer the vehicle and instructed others to call for help. “I didn’t have time to process my emotions,” Casnave said. “I just wanted to make sure that nobody got hurt.”
Another sixth grader, 12-year-old Darrius Clark, hit the brakes, and together the two managed to maneuver the bus onto a median and put it in park. Darrius’s sister, Kayleigh Clark, a 13-year-old eighth grader, ran from the back of the bus to the front and called 911. She later recounted that she could barely hear the emergency operator due to the screaming of frightened students. “I was scared, but also I had to help,” she said.
Fellow eighth grader Destiny Cornelius, 15, also rushed to the front and noticed that Taylor was holding a nebulizer. Cornelius administered the medication while McKenzy Finch, a 13-year-old sixth grader, held Taylor’s head. Finch also picked up Taylor’s ringing phone and informed the district’s transportation team about the emergency.
Gratitude and Recognition
Taylor, who has since made a full recovery, expressed profound gratitude for her students. “I’m grateful for my students,” she said. “They’re the ones that saved my life and everybody else’s on that bus.”
The students were honored at a pep rally on Friday and will be treated to a lunch field trip next week at a restaurant of their choosing. Principal Dr. Melissa Saucier praised their bravery. “What they did took courage,” she said. “They didn’t wait for somebody to step in, they stepped up themselves, and that says a lot about their character.”
