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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Wisconsin eighth grader takes the wheel of his school bus after driver | |
loses consciousness | |
By Kaila Nichols, CNN | |
Updated: | |
12:28 PM EDT, Sun May 5, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
It was a normal end to the school day in late April for Acie Holland | |
III, an eighth grader at Glen Hills Middle School in Glendale, | |
Wisconsin. | |
He followed his routine and got on the school bus to go home. The bus | |
driver joked with students, Holland said, before putting on her | |
headphones. | |
Then things took a sudden turn. | |
From his seat past the middle of the bus, Holland said the bus driver | |
looked a little sick or tired and her head dropped. He knew something | |
was wrong when she continued to press the gas and missed a street. | |
“She turned the corner and there’s another street that we usually | |
turn on. She pressed the gas and went past the corner, and I looked | |
up,” Holland told CNN. | |
He walked to the front of the bus to check on her, but she didn’t | |
respond, he said. She had temporarily lost consciousness and the bus | |
was veering into oncoming traffic. Holland rushed to move her foot off | |
of the gas. He said he applied the brakes and safely parked the bus. | |
“I wasn’t really scared, I was just trying to get the bus to | |
stop,” he said. | |
After stopping the bus, Holland contacted 911 and his grandmother, who | |
is a nurse assistant. He also instructed the other 13-15 students on | |
board to call their families. | |
“Everybody was just like, ‘thank you’ because I saved their | |
life,” said Holland, who hopes to one day own a barber shop or | |
mechanic shop. | |
Glen Hills Middle School Principal Anna Young wrote in a note to | |
families that the “community could not be any prouder of Acie.” | |
“The compassion and leadership that we see him exhibit daily was | |
taken to the next level on his bus ride home yesterday. We are grateful | |
that all of our Glen Hills students are safe and are wishing their | |
driver a healthy recovery,” she continued. | |
Eventually, the driver regained consciousness and called the bus | |
company, Riteway, which sent another driver to take the students home | |
safely. | |
According to the school principal, the driver experienced a medical | |
emergency and was receiving care. | |
Holland’s parents are incredibly proud and relieved. | |
At first, Holland’s father, Acie Holland II, didn’t believe him | |
when he heard the story later that day. | |
“Dad, I saved the school bus from crashing,” he told him. | |
Ultimately, the story didn’t surprise him. | |
“He’s always been a person where he’s real quick on his feet. | |
That’s one of my things that I know he’s capable of, not on the | |
school bus, but just in general, being able to help someone in need,” | |
Holland’s father told CNN. “But I am proud of what he did.” | |
The small, tight-knit community continues to show its pride since the | |
incident. At a school board meeting earlier this week, Holland gained | |
recognition through a proclamation from the mayor and city council. The | |
Glendale Police Department and the Milwaukee Fire Department also | |
praised his heroics. | |
Holland had some previous experience with vehicles. Since he was | |
little, he’s been working with his father, a certified auto | |
technician. | |
“It was like he was in the right place at the right time. So it was, | |
it was meant to be for a variety of reasons, the most important being | |
for the safety of others,” Young said. | |
Holland appreciates all the recognition he’s been getting. He says | |
he’s just glad he was able to get everyone home safely. He says this | |
experience has given him more self-assurance. | |
“I feel more confident with having a fight or flight moment,” he | |
said. | |
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