Bus driver speaks out after getting hit by flying metal while driving
A bus driver is speaking out after getting hit by a piece of flying metal while on the job.
Stewart O'Leary, a Washington state bus driver, was struck by a piece of metal while he was driving a school bus at more than 60 mph along Interstate 405 last Friday. He was driving a high school girls' basketball team to a game at the time.
"I'm glad it was me, not them, any of my passengers," O'Leary told Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO.
"I kept the girls safe. That's what the job of a bus driver is -- transporting students safely -- and I did that," he said.
The piece of metal tore through the bus' windshield before it struck O'Leary in the chest. In a video released by the Northshore School District, O'Leary can be seen yelling out, "Oh, God!" when the metal hits him.
But despite the sudden pain, O'Leary kept his cool behind the wheel and two of the team's coaches rushed over to assist O'Leary when they heard him yell.
"As soon as I heard the screams, then I looked up to check on the driver," Chris Pinder, a coach of the North Creek High School's girls' junior varsity basketball team, recalled.
Pinder and Coach Calvin McHenry jumped into action.
In the video, McHenry can be heard telling O'Leary, "OK, hit the breaks, hit the breaks. Get the flashers on and hit the breaks."
While Pinder called 911, asking for both "fire and medical" services, O'Leary was able to pull the bus over to the highway's shoulder.
After emergency medical services arrived, O'Leary was transported to a local hospital and treated for a serious bruise to his chest and cuts he sustained from flying glass shards that hit his face.
The cracked windshield is now on display at the school district's bus office and O'Leary was given the flying piece of metal, which he said he plans on keeping as a reminder.
The coaches praised O'Leary, who has already returned to work less than a week after the incident.
"It's just remarkable that he was able to keep the bus going straight after such a sudden event occurring. So a really, really great guy," Pinder said.
Authorities are still trying to determine what the flying piece of metal is and where it originated.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Coach Calvin McHenry helped steer the bus to safety.
