Five Mississippi Middle Schoolers Saved Their Bus Driver's Life
On a Wednesday afternoon in late April, a school bus carrying about 40 students pulled away from Hancock Middle School in Hancock County, Mississippi. Driver Leah Taylor, 46, was at the wheel. Within minutes, she was unconscious — and five middle schoolers were the only thing standing between a runaway bus on a four-lane highway and a disaster.
They handled it perfectly.
What Happened
Taylor suffered a severe asthma attack while driving. She reached for her medication but blacked out before she could administer it. Student McKenzy Finch, a 13-year-old sixth grader, watched it happen from her seat. "She kind of fell over, like flopped over, and everyone started standing up," Finch recalled.
What followed was a masterclass in calm under pressure — from middle schoolers.
Jackson Casnave, a 12-year-old sixth grader sitting directly behind the driver, noticed the bus beginning to swerve. He jumped up and grabbed the wheel. "I didn't have time to process my emotions," Casnave said later.
Darrius Clark, another sixth grader, ran up and hit the air brake. "The bus started rolling forward. It started like, gaining speed, so when I clicked the brakes, it about threw me out the windshield," Clark said.
Kayleigh Clark, an eighth grader, dialed 911. Finch picked up Taylor's ringing phone and called the school district's transportation team to tell them what was happening.
And Destiny Cornelius, a 15-year-old eighth grader, noticed something in Taylor's hand. "I saw her medication in her hand, and I saw her reaching for it. I knew that's what she needed," Cornelius said. She administered the medicine herself.
Between the five of them, they steered the bus, hit the brakes, called for help, and gave their driver the medication she needed — all in a matter of seconds, all while keeping the other students on the bus as calm as possible until first responders arrived.
What Taylor Said
Taylor has made a full recovery. When she got back behind the wheel and saw her students again, she thanked each one of them individually.
"I'm grateful for my students," she said. "They're the ones that saved my life and everybody else's on that bus. I can't thank these students enough for saving everybody's life because it could have turned out so much worse."
What the School Said
Hancock Middle School Principal Dr. Melissa Saucier made clear she was not remotely surprised by what her students did.
"This is who our students are at Hancock Middle School," she said. "They care. They lead. And when it matters most, they step up before even having to be told. I hope that when people hear this story, they are reminded that there is so much good in this next generation. We just have to pay attention."
The five students — McKenzy Finch, Jackson Casnave, Darrius Clark, Kayleigh Clark, and Destiny Cornelius — were honored at a school pep rally. They were also told they'd be taken out for lunch at a restaurant of their choosing. It's a modest reward for the kind of thing most adults would struggle to do under pressure — let alone a group of kids on their way home from school.
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