Colo. 9th grader steers school bus to safety
Jeremy Rice, 14, jumped into action when his school bus driver fell from his seat. / KKTV
(CBS News) COLORADO SPRINGS - A Colorado 9th grader helped steer his school bus to safety after a bus driver fell from his seat and got stuck, leaving the wheel unattended.
Jeremy Rice, 14, told CBS Denver affiliate KKTV that the driver was knocked out of his chair after taking a sharp right turn mid-route in Colorado Springs Thursday morning.
"While we started turning he hit the curb and he fell out and he got stuck and he was asking everyone to help," Rice said.
Rice, a student at Colorado Spring Early Colleges, ran from the back of the bus to the unattended steering wheel.
As the bus headed towards oncoming cars, Rice said he saw a blue semi truck coming straight at him. "You could hear him trying to hit his brake," said.
The teen, still two year too young to even get a driving permit in his state, drove the bus through oncoming traffic to the side of the road, bringing the bus to a safe stop using the emergency break.
"I wasn't thinking at all. I just acted. I was scared; I didn't know what to do," he told the station.
None of the 17 students on the bus, nor the driver, were badly hurt. Rice got a few bumps when he hit the windshield when the bus abruptly stopped.
The Colorado Spring police department is awarding Rice for his heroism at a ceremony Friday morning in front of his entire school.
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Emergency Break: when you have to take a leak/crap so bad that you need to stop whatever you are doing and get to a bathroom immediately.