A middle school student from Milton, Wash., averted a potentially disastrous situation on Monday when he guided his school bus safely off the road after the driver had a medical emergency, KOMO News reports.
Thirteen-year-old Jeremy Wuitschick was on the bus en route to Surprise Lake Middle School when he noticed that something was amiss.
"I knew something was wrong," the seventh grader said. "The bus driver…looked funny. His eyes were bulging, he was sitting back and his hands were flapping around."
Immediately, Wuitschick and another seventh grade student -- Johnny Wood -- leapt out of their seats and rushed to the front of the bus, KING 5 News reports.
Grabbing the wheel, Wuitschick steered the vehicle, preventing it from crashing into a curb; while Wood, who knows CPR, tried chest compressions on the driver who had become unconscious.
"It was pretty scary," said Wuitschick, who then took the key out of the ignition, making the bus -- with 15 other middle school students in it -- come to a halt.
"I'll tell you, I'll give the kid credit for fast thinking. He did the right thing and we're going to do something for him. The kid definitely deserves credit," Milton Police Chief Bill Rhodes told ABC News.
When asked what compelled him to come forward to help, Wuitschick told KOMO News he had acted "on instinct," adding that a "book about superheroes" had inspired him to turn the vehicle's engine off.
He also told KING 5 News that he knows how to drive because his mother lets him back the car out of the driveway when he washes it -- but that, until now, it had been his little secret.
The 43-year-old bus driver, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital. According to ABC News, his condition has been described as "grave." No one else was hurt.
For more on this story, watch interviews with Jeremy Wuitschick and Johnny Wood on KING 5 News here.