Leah Taylor, a 46-year-old bus driver, blacked out from an asthma attack at the worst possible moment: at the wheel of a bus full of middle schoolers, rolling down the highway in Southern Mississippi.
When she came to, “one of my students was holding my medication toward my face, and just telling me to breathe,” recalled Ms. Taylor, who drives for the Hancock County School District on the Gulf Coast, in an interview on Wednesday. The bus had been brought to a stop. How that happened was a mystery to her, she said.
Newly released video of the incident, which unfolded last Wednesday on Highway 603 near Kiln, Miss., shows what occurred in the moments after Ms. Taylor began to lose consciousness.
In the footage, a student seated at the front of the bus — identified as Jackson Casnave by a spokeswoman for the school district — appears to take notice as Ms. Taylor struggles to breathe. With the vehicle drifting toward the shoulder, he then quickly grabs the wheel.
Ms. Taylor appears to briefly regain control and slows the vehicle before slumping back over her seat. Another student, Darrius Clark, activated the vehicle’s brakes, bringing it to an abrupt stop.
A third student, Destiny Cornelius, assisted in administering Ms. Taylor’s medicine, the spokeswoman, Chayna Penton, said in a statement to The New York Times. Kay’Leigh Clark, another student, called 911, while a fifth, McKenzy Finch, relayed the situation to the school district’s transportation department.
All of the students involved were 11 to 15 years old, Ms. Penton said.
In a social media post immediately after the incident, the school district said that the passengers on the bus had all made it home safely, adding that the district was “proud of our students for staying calm and acting responsibly.” There were no reportable injuries, Ms. Penton said.
“I’m just grateful for my students,” Ms. Taylor said. “They did an awesome job.”
Ms. Taylor said that she had recently departed Hancock Middle School when the asthma attack happened. She estimated there were about 40 students on the bus at the time.
A week later, when asked how she was doing, Ms. Taylor said, “I’m feeling great.” She is back to driving the students who intervened to save her and their classmates from what could have been a catastrophe.
“I’ve been seeing them every day, and I’ve been saying, ‘Thank you for everything you do, everything you did,’” she said.
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Chris Hippensteel is a reporter covering breaking news and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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