A quartet of fast-thinking Crestview High School students narrowly averted a possible catastrophe Thursday afternoon when their school bus driver passed out and the bus threatened to plunge over an approaching embankment.
Driver Tim Duffy, who has been driving a school bus for the district a little over a year, had turned west onto Raspberry Road and was descending the hill toward the Lowe’s home improvement store when students Derrick Ferguson, a sophomore riding in the front of the bus, and freshman Caitlin Prestridge, sitting right behind Derrick, noticed Duffy slump over.
In the back of Bus 9411, junior Alec Chamberlain and sophomore Craig Winkler noticed the bus pick up speed. Then the vehicle lurched over two curbs, jostling the 30 students who were aboard. Alec said Duffy is a careful driver, so when the bus did not turn for the approaching curve, he knew something was amiss.
“He’s a very controlled driver,” Alec said. “It was a little awkward when he started going straight. I saw the trees and I saw the fall [over the embankment], and I was going, this is going to be really, really fun, or really ridiculous. We hit the first curb doing like 45.”
Derrick jumped from his seat and ran up to grab the steering wheel and apply the brakes. “I had one hand on the driver and one hand on the wheel,” he said. Applying the brake was difficult, he said. “The driver’s foot was stuck under the gas and the brake pedals.”
“I saw Derrick jump up and I ran to help him,” Caitlin said. “My biggest priority was helping the driver.”
Read the full story in the Wednesday edition of the Crestview News Bulletin.
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