Two brothers in Maine are being praised for safely stopping their school bus when the driver collapsed at the wheel, ultimately saving lives.
The boys saw their driver, Arthur McDougall, 77, slump over the wheel and fall to the floor while driving them and 12 other students toward Mount Ararat Middle School and Mount Ararat High School in the small town of Topsham, Maine, on Monday morning.
“I got up and pressed on the brake and told my little brother to call 911,” student Connor Collins told WGME. “I asked the other high schooler in the back if he could come up here, try to roll him over, and if he knew CPR.”
Collins’s brother, Shamus, said everyone was “screaming” and “panicking.”
The bus came to a stop as it veered off the road into a ditch, just before crossing a bridge.
“Had they not been able to get that bus stopped, we don’t know what could have happened,” said Topsham Police Chief Marc Hagan.
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Topsham police also praised students who waved down help, others who stopped, and the first responders who attempted life-saving measures.
McDougall was taken to the hospital where he died, according to MSAD 75 Superintendent Robert Lucy.
“We offer our deepest condolences to Arthur’s family, friends, and colleagues,” Lucy wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. “This is very difficult news to share and process. We will have counselors available to support all students and staff in our schools and District buildings tomorrow and in the upcoming days.”
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Topsham police said McDougall’s wife expressed her gratitude to those who tried to help her husband, saying, “It was overwhelming to hear of the efforts that were taken by those involved.”
