Teen Saves The Day After Camp Bus Driver's Fatal Heart Attack

2009_02_schbus.jpg A school bus ride for the nine young summer campers at the Magic Carpet Day Camp turned tragic when their driver dropped dead of a heart attack and collapsed out of the bus while driving yesterday in Queens. Ramon Fernandez, 47, died after losing consciousness while stopped at a red light behind the wheel of a camp school bus in Elmhurst. Fernandez then collapsed out of the door he was keeping open while stopped in order to get additional ventilation into the un-air conditioned bus. When Fernandez fell out, 16-year-old camp counselor Rachel Guzy leaped forward and reached for the emergency brake as the bus slowly rolled into another vehicle in the intersection. The bus matron had minor injuries, but all of the Bayside campers were unharmed. An 11-year-old on board told the Post, "He was driving with the door open because it was really hot, and he felt really hot. It's not normal...Me and my friend, we were in the front near the counselor. She was crying, very nervous after it happened....[Rachel] saved our lives because she pulled the brake."

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+100000000 for the Aladdin reference.

Good smart move by the kid, but the contention that she "saved" anything or anyone seems to be overstating it. The bus was simply coasting at the time, it wasn't about to fly over a cliff. The Post story implies that it still hit another car as it continued to roll while NY1 says "the girl tried to apply the bus's brake but was unsuccessful."

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