Minnesota Good Samaritan Awarded $1K After Jumping Onto Moving School Bus to Save 18 Children

A quick-thinking Minnesota convenience store worker who leaped onto a moving school bus to protect 18 children after the driver suffered a sudden medical emergency has been awarded a $1,000 cash gift for his actions.

Ebro Ahmed was standing outside Bricks Snacks and Tobacco in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood on Monday when a Battle Creek Middle School bus rolled past him. The vehicle’s doors were wide open and its warning lights were flashing, prompting Ahmed to take immediate notice.

“I saw a bus roll past me with the doors open, and I saw the bus driver seizing up,” Ahmed told reporters on Tuesday, recounting the moments before he sprang into action.

Surveillance and news footage captured Ahmed sprinting alongside the moving vehicle before jumping through the open doors. Once inside, he rushed to take control of the controls. “I just ran out to the bus, I tried to put it in park, I threw it in reverse by accident, and then I ended up getting it in neutral, pulled the parking brake,” Ahmed said. After successfully halting the vehicle, he immediately contacted emergency services.

Ahmed estimated that there were 18 children on board the Battle Creek Middle School route at the time. None of the students sustained any injuries. Looking back at the passengers after securing the bus, Ahmed recalled seeing the children shaken and frightened, with some holding their phones out and preparing to dial 911.

With no formal medical training, Ahmed credited a popular television medical drama for giving him a baseline understanding of how to handle an emergency. “I like to give my credit to Grey’s Anatomy. I learned a lot,” he said, noting that friends had started calling him Superman in the wake of the incident. Despite the newfound attention, he emphasized that protecting children was the primary motivation. “At the end of the day, youth are the most innocent humans on Earth, so anything you can do to save them, help them, it’s worth it.”

Following the vehicle’s stop, Ahmed turned his attention back to the driver, monitoring his condition to ensure he was breathing properly and had not struck his head during the medical episode.

St. Paul Public Schools confirmed that the medical emergency occurred along a scheduled route for Battle Creek Middle School and that paramedics were dispatched to the scene. District officials stated that by Wednesday, the driver had been discharged from the hospital and was recovering at home. A replacement bus was sent to transport the remaining students safely to their destinations.

In recognition of his actions, local business owner Sheletta Brundidge, who operates the marketing and media firm ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com, presented Ahmed with a $1,000 check.

“He could have pulled out his phone and went live on Instagram. He could have run inside the store to call 911 while the bus kept rolling, but he didn’t,” Brundidge said. “His first instinct was to jump on and rescue the children and the driver. He saved them all. Not all heroes wear capes; some are store clerks.”

When asked if he viewed himself as a hero, Ahmed remained modest, telling reporters that he believed anyone facing the same set of circumstances would have taken identical steps to protect the children and the driver.