‘It’s a very powerful lesson’
A 13-year-old who saved his classmates from disaster by taking control of the school bus when the driver passed out only noticed what was happening because he was the only one not on his phone.
Dillon Reeves was one of 67 students travelling home on a school bus from Carter Middle School in Warren, Massachusetts, when the driver fell unconscious.
But the teenager rushed to the front and grabbed the wheel whilst managing to bring the bus to a halt. He hit headlines across the US last month when camera footage of the incident went viral.
Now, his father Steve has said he believes the reason Dillon was so alert to the situation was because he doesn’t have a phone.
He told CBS: “What else are you going to do when you don’t have a phone? You’re going to look at people, you’re going to notice stuff. You’re going to look out the window.
“It’s a very powerful lesson, maybe a change-the-world kind of lesson.”
One student on the bus told CBS they hadn’t noticed the driver had passed out because they had their “AirPods in,” whilst another said they were “playing a little game” on their phone.
In video footage from above the driver’s seat, Dillon is seen rushing to the wheel and finding the brake pedal to bring the vehicle to a stop, whilst his classmates can be heard screaming.
He can then be heard asking someone on the bus to call 911.
None of the students were injured in the incident and the 40-year-old bus driver was taken to the hospital in “stable” condition, Warren Fire Commissioner Skip McAdams told CNN.
The 13-year-old’s mum, Ireta Reeves, said her son knew how to bring the bus to a stop because he had watched the driver “do it everyday.”
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