School bus driver passes out at the wheel

A school bus full of Cape Girardeau Central Middle School students got a scare Monday afternoon when their bus driver reportedly lost consciousness at the wheel.

About 10 students on the bus were headed home after school at about 4 p.m. when the driver, a middle-aged man who was not identified by Cape Girardeau police or fire officials, slumped over his seat, witnesses said.

Shelby Davis, a 12-year-old student on the bus, relayed the events to her mother, Candy Ank.

Ank told the Southeast Missourian that Shelby said the driver lost consciousness as the bus turned from Sherwood Drive onto Weissinger Lane, which is on an incline.

The bus then started to go backward down the slope and the children became frightened, Ank said. They rushed to the back of the bus, trying to open the rear escape door, which did not open, she said.

Shelby went to the bus' cab and applied the brake with her foot, holding it there until the bus stopped and she could open the front door for students to exit. Then she got out as well.

When Ank arrived in her car to meet her daughter, she said she saw a group of children yelling and her daughter crying that something was wrong with the bus driver.

Ank entered the bus, where another woman was holding the brake down, and turned off the vehicle and held down the brake until police arrived and took control of the bus.

Ank said that when she was in the bus, the driver, who had a blank look on his face, looked at her but did not speak.

Ank said she asked Shelby how she knew to stop the bus and open the door. "She said she watched him do it so many times, she just did it without thinking," she said. "I'm very, very proud of her."

No one was injured and the bus was not damaged, said police Cpl. Jason Selzer.

The driver was transported to a hospital by Cape Girardeau fire and rescue.

Fred Keller, a resident living near the scene, said the school bus company sent out another bus driver to take the children home.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127