Bystander jumps onto moving bus to help students during driver’s medical emergency

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — A bystander helped stop a bus carrying 19 middle schoolers Monday after the driver had a medical emergency, according to school officials in Minnesota.

Ebro Ahmed, 27, was taking a break outside his family business, Ya Bricks Snacks & Tobacco, in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood when he saw the bus moving through the streets with no hands on the wheel.

“I started yelling. I didn’t know what to do. The reason I started yelling was to get somebody’s attention,” Ahmed said.

Bystander describes boarding the bus

Ahmed said he ran toward the bus after noticing the door was open.

“It caught me by surprise because I was kind of confused about the door being open. So then I ran toward the bus and noticed he was having an emergency, so I just hopped on there,” Ahmed said.

“I wasn’t able to stop it at first, so I threw it in park, and it went in reverse by accident,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed assisted the driver while instructing students to call 911.

“It’s something you would never think would happen in real life,” Ahmed said.

Asked how he knew what to do, Ahmed said he drew on things he had seen before.

“TV shows, stuff like that. ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and TikTok,” Ahmed said.

School district response

In a statement, St. Paul Public Schools said there was a medical emergency on a contracted bus route from Battle Creek Middle School that likely made students late arriving home and that some children may have been upset by the situation. The district said its mental health team checked in with students afterward.

Ahmed said he and the students were alone when the incident happened.

“We were right here. No cars around, no adults around, just me alone with the kids,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said the situation made him think of his own family.

“It’s scary. That could’ve been my sister, my brother, my daughter, my son. It could be my little cousin,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said he wants to reunite with the driver and his family.

“It’s part of being human. We have feelings and emotions we’re supposed to feel. If I were to let him drive away, I would not be human anymore,” Ahmed said.

St. Paul Public Schools said the driver has been released from the hospital and is resting at home.