A bystander in Saint Paul, Minnesota, climbed onto a moving school bus after its driver suffered a medical emergency and brought the vehicle to a halt, protecting 19 students on board.
Ebro Ahmed, 27, intervened after spotting the bus traveling with its doors open outside a nearby convenience store.
Saint Paul Public Schools confirmed the bus was serving Battle Creek Middle School.
The district said no students were injured, emergency responders came to the scene, and a replacement bus took the children home.
A split-second decision to act
Surveillance footage showed Ahmed running toward the vehicle and boarding it while it was still in motion.
He told CBS News that the sight of the bus passing him was unsettling. "When he drove past me, it really shook me," Ahmed said.
"I was like, 'What is going on?'"
According to CBS News, the bus was moving at roughly 10 mph with its warning lights flashing.
Ahmed said the unusual scene pushed him to check rather than assume everything was normal.
Inside, he focused on stopping the vehicle despite having never driven a bus. He initially struggled to find the right gear.
"I saw the bus driver obviously having a medical emergency," Ahmed said.
"All I looked at was the gear control and I was trying to put it into park."
He accidentally shifted into reverse before correcting the mistake and moving the transmission into neutral. He then pulled the parking brake to bring the bus under control.
"I started hearing beeps and we were going backwards," Ahmed explained.
"And then I said, 'That is not right,' and I threw it into neutral and pulled the [parking] brake."
Once the bus stopped, Ahmed checked on the passengers and contacted emergency services. The children were frightened, and some were preparing to call the police themselves.
"When I looked behind me, I saw all of the kids kind of a little scared, crying with their phones out getting ready to call the police," Ahmed said.
ABC News reported that Ahmed asked two girls seated near the front to hold his phone and glasses while he worked to stop the bus.
Their cooperation helped him manage the emergency.
"Some [kids] were screaming. Some [were] calm.
These two girls on the front really did help me a lot.
I threw my phone and my glasses at one of them and I told her to hold it," Ahmed recalled.
Calm under pressure and a duty to help
Ahmed said he had no professional medical training.
He credited lessons about staying composed under pressure to the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, which he regularly watches.
"In 'Grey's Anatomy,' you never see doctors panic.
I know it is all acting and stuff, so I just knew to be calm and just think everything through," Ahmed said.
He described the show as a source of practical lessons for unexpected emergencies.
"[The show teaches] you about what to do in situations that you never could see yourself in," he said.
Ahmed said his priority was protecting the children rather than receiving recognition. He told ABC News that personal danger did not outweigh the need to help.
"I really felt like it was my duty," Ahmed told ABC News. "Also, too, it's kids we're talking about, you know.
Even if I were to die, it would still be worth it."
In a separate interview with KSTP, Ahmed said he focused first on stopping the bus before contacting authorities.
"So 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.
"And then I called the police and called the ambulances so they could help the driver."
Ahmed counted 18 children when police arrived, while the school district later confirmed 19 students had been aboard.
KSTP and CBS News both reported that no students were injured.
He expressed relief that the emergency did not happen on a highway or a busy road, where the consequences could have been more severe.
"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," Ahmed said.
Ahmed also described the driver's condition after the immediate emergency had passed. "After everything, he was coming to, but he's still kind of out of it," he said.
Saint Paul Public Schools later reported that the driver had been released from the hospital and was resting at home.
The district arranged transportation for the students and said its mental health team checked in with them.
Despite the danger of boarding a moving bus, Ahmed said he did not consider himself exceptional.
"I feel like any person in my situation would have done the same thing," he said.
