Florida Students Stop Bus After Driver Suffers Seizure
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Several students were hailed as heroes Friday after taking control of a school bus when the driver suffered a seizure and lost control.
Kenneth Baker, 49, was driving a bus with 39 students to Celebration High School in Osceola County when he became ill about 6:45 a.m., according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Student Mariah Hutchinson, 17, jumped from her seat as the bus collided with a guardrail and grabbed the steering wheel, FHP said. Joshua Cosme, also 17, then pulled the emergency break to stop the bus.
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"If that bus continued, they would have gone over the guardrail," said Maryalisa Cousins, Hutchinson's mother.
Both students were treated and released from an area hospital, said FHP Sgt. Jorge Delahoz. A third student also was treated and released. Baker remained hospitalized in fair condition. No other injuries were reported.
"Mariah Hutchinson and Joshua Cosme's quick thinking kept this from becoming a tragic incident," Delahoz wrote in his report. "Both were hailed as heroes by the other passengers."
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Jim Beekman, the director of transportation for the Osceola County School District, said Baker has been a bus driver since 1998 and had no history of illness.
"There were a lot of heroes on that bus this morning," Beekman told the Orlando Sentinel.