While this isn’t something most of us want to think about, it would be hard not to agree that the only thing worse than a tense situation that put our lives in danger is one that also puts children in danger.
Unfortunately, as far any anyone knew at the time, that was precisely what one South Carolina bus driver and the 18 students in his care faced when an armed intruder forced his way on board.
But while his main priority was ensuring the safety of the children as the incident went on, he would soon learn that they had a similar priority for his well-being.
And that is why he now refers to them as his heroes.
While in the midst of his third week of basic training at Fort Jackson, 23-year-old Jovan Collazo apparently decided he was ready to go home.
But as CBS News reported , the unfortunate reality is that he chose to go about this journey by jumping the fence with a rifle at his side and holding it to the driver of a nearby school bus.
As footage from the incident showed, he eventually commandeered the bus himself and drove it for a few miles before trying to procure clothes and rides in various neighborhoods.
According to Brigadier General Milford Beagle, the weapon Collazo was carrying did not have ammunition but those on the bus would have no way of knowing that.
Collazo was eventually arrested and now faces charges that number in the dozens.
According to CBS News, chief among them are 19 counts of kidnapping in light of the fact that 18 children were present on the bus at the time.
Although bus driver Kenneth Corbin was hailed a hero for his ability to stay calm and keep Collazo pacified, he credits the children for defusing the situation.
As he told Good Morning America, “The kids were the ones that actually got the gentleman off of the bus and they pretty much had my back as much as my concerns were with them.”
By expressing what exactly they did, Corbin also explained why Collazo decided to kick everyone off the bus and drive it himself.
Corbin said that Collazo had all the children move to the front of the bus so he could better keep track of them, at which point they — particularly the kindergarteners — started asking a flurry of questions.
The first question was whether Collazo was a soldier, to which he hesitantly answered yes.
As for the rest of them, in Corbin’s words, “They asked him, ‘why are you doing this?’ He never did have an answer for this one. They asked, was he going to hurt them? He said ‘no.’ They asked, ‘are you going to hurt our bus driver?’ He said, ‘no. I’m going to put you off the bus.'”
But although he was about 20 miles from the nearest town and clearly in a hurry, it was soon after this point that he was frustrated enough to ask Corbin to pull over.
As Corbin put it, “He sensed more questions coming and I guess something clicked in his mind and he said, ‘enough is enough already,’ and he told me to ‘stop the bus, and just get off.'”
This came as a relief since Corbin was doing all he could to ensure Collazo didn’t get angry enough to harm anyone.
As he said, “it was so evident that they were precious cargo and I pretty much just had to just do whatever — to get them off the bus safe and sound. It seemed like they were going to do the same thing by me, and that’s why I refer to them as my heroes.”
h/t: CBS News , Good Morning America
