Heroic Boy, 14, Stops Runaway School Bus After Classmate Hit Driver And Knocked Her Unconscious

A 14-year-old Louisiana boy is being hailed as a hero for stopping an out-of-control school bus filled with high school students after a classmate knocked the driver unconscious, according to the Daily Mail.  

The 15-year-old suspect has been charged with assault for attacking the 26-year-old driver in Baton Rouge Thursday as she was dropping off about a half-dozen students from Christa McAuliffe Superintendent’s Academy.  The academy is an alternative school for teens with disciplinary problems.

Police and school officials say the female driver had stopped the bus at around 3pm at Linden Street to exchange words with the disruptive student.

According to the driver, when she turned away to face the road, the 15-year-old walked up behind her and punched the woman several times in the head until she passed out.

She then lost consciousness, her hands and feet slipped from the wheel and the brakes, and the bus started moving again.

That is when Tay’veon Slaughter, 14, jumped into action.

The quick-thinking eighth-grader slammed his foot on the breaks to stop the bus from crashing and called 911.

‘I knew I had to stop the bus because, you know, she’s not responding,’ he told the station WAFB, referring to the driver. ‘The bus was speeding up. So I knew if we get into a wreck, all of us would have been hurt.’

The 15-year-old suspect in the attack fled the bus before police responded to the scene.  Later that day, the teenager’s mother turned him in to police. The suspect was arrested on charges of battery of a bus operator, aggravated obstruction of a roadway and second-degree battery.

School officials say the 15-year-old has been suspended pending a disciplinary hearing and could face expulsion.

When the driver of the bus woke up, she did know she had been attacked and that her face was swollen.

The injured driver was taken to a hospital to be treated for her injures. She has since been released to continue her recovery at home.

Slaughter said that before the attack on the driver, the 15-year-old was throwing things out the widow and spitting at passing cars. The boy reportedly became upset when the driver asked him to stop and sit down.

When the 26-year-old woman regained consciousness, Slaughter said she did not know she had been punched.

‘She didn’t know that her face was swollen,’ the boy recalled to the New Orleans Advocate.

Averil Sanders, principal of Christa McAuliffe Superintendent’s Academy, said he was proud of Tay’veon for stepping up to the plate in an emergency situation.

More here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973108/I-Heroic-boy-15-stops-runaway-school-bus-classmate-knocked-female-driver-unconscious.html#ixzz3T4MTmcg2

Facebook Shuttle Bus Drivers Attempt To Unionize

Shuttle bus drivers at Facebook, Inc. voted on Saturday to ratify a new union contract giving them more pay, better benefits and addressing split-shift scheduling, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A letter, written last year by the principal officer of the Teamsters Union branch in Northern California, calls out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the unfair treatment of Facebook’s shuttle bus drivers, who are seeking union representation.

“While your employees earn extraordinary wages and are able to live and enjoy life in some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the Bay Area, these drivers can’t afford to support a family, send their children to school, or, least of all, afford to even dream of buying a house anywhere near where they work,” the letter, written by Rome Aloise, reads.

The shuttle drivers are employed by a contractor called Loop Transportation.

Aloise’s letter asks Zuckerberg to encourage Loop to recognize a union representing Facebook’s bus drivers so they can collectively fight for a “fair contract that allows these drivers to earn a livable wage and support their families in dignity.”

“This is reminiscent of a time when noblemen were driven around in their coaches by their servants.”

Loop Transportation, the contractor that employs the drivers and negotiated with Teamsters Local 853, cautioned that the agreement was not finalized and must be approved by Facebook, according to Reuters.

Malala Yousafzai Donates $50K To Rebuild Gaza Schools

Malala Yousafzai is the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Prize. She also just won money for her human rights advocacy, and she’s giving it all away to help children in Gaza rebuild their schools.

Wikipedia states: “On the afternoon of 9 October 2012, Yousafzai boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. A gunman asked for her by name, then pointed a pistol at her and fired three shots. One bullet hit the left side of Yousafzai’s forehead, travelled under her skin through the length of her face, and then went into her shoulder.

“In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, for intensive rehabilitation.”

Anyone who has been following her story knows that this sort of display of compassion is no surprise.