SPRINGVILLE, Ala., April 1, 2008
Heroic Teacher Grabs Wheel On Swerving Bus
After Driver Passed Out, Quick-Thinking Teacher Keeps Accident From Becoming Tragedy
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Play CBS Video Video Teacher Hailed As Bus Hero An Alabama teacher saves lives after taking the wheel from a driver who passed out. Harry Smith talks to her husband and son, also one of the students on the bus.
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Alabama elementary school math teacher Amy King is being hailed as a hero for grabbing the steering wheel when the school bus driver passed out. The crash Friday, March 28, 2008 sent 20 people to the hospital, including the driver and King. (CBS)
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The teacher, Amy King, grabbed the steering wheel and tried to straighten the swerving bus, witnesses told The Birmingham News.
The crash, which happened last Friday, sent 20 people to the hospital, including the driver and King.
"She jumped over and pulled the wheel," said Alix Romano, a Bryan Elementary School fifth-grader who sat near the front of the bus.
King was thrown through the windshield and airlifted to UAB Hospital.
King's husband, Chris, told CBS News' The Early Show that although she's got a long road of rehab in front of her, she's glad to be off a respirator and talking again.
"She's in a good bit of pain," he said. "She's struggling with all the broken bones."
The bus, owned by Adventure Bus Charter & Tours Inc. of Sumiton, was the lead bus in a caravan with two other charter buses hired by the school along with cars driven by chaperones.
The bus sideswiped 200 feet of guardrail before it came to rest upside down in a drainage ditch about 30 miles northeast of Birmingham.
Romano described the accident to The Early Show as "very scary."
The wreck is being investigated by Alabama State Troopers.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- WHY IS THE NEWS HERE A DAY BEHIND?? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND...1 NEWS ARTICLE FOR APRIL 2...HELLO
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- I hope that teacher isn''t crippled up for her saving those kids. That was a very heroic deed there. Any word on why the bus driver passed out? Or did the driver just plain fall asleep at the wheel?......or pharmaceutically inebriated?
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- Nice to see people trying to help other people
Posted by rukindr at 10:16 AM : Apr 01, 2008
This come under the heading of "Enlightened Self Interest". Good job Mrs King. - Reply to this comment
- Nice to see people trying to help other people
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