New York Bus Driver Recognized for
Life-Saving Efforts

VILLAGE OF SPENCERPORT, N.Y. - A quick-thinking and -acting school bus driver saved the life of a five-year-old boy on Sept. 14.

The Spencerport Central School District Board of Education presented Don Tyson with a certificate of heroism during a Sept. 27 meeting. The 25-year veteran driver was operating bus No. 57 on the afternoon route home from Bernabi Elementary School when a student alerted him that a kindergartner was choking.

School bus driver Don Tyson, right, and Alex Cona in front of bus No. 57. Tyson saved the boy's life by performing the Heimlich maneuver during afternoon transport.

Spencerport is about 10 miles north of Rochester and provides transportation to about 5,000 students daily on 87 buses. The district contract-hires approximately 70 regularly-scheduled drivers and another 15 substitutes.

"The student hollered up, 'He's not breathing, he's not breathing,'" said Director of Transportation Michael Proukou. Despite having a strict no-eating rule on the school bus, Proukou added that an older student shared a piece of Jolly Rancher candy with kindergartner Alex Cona of nearby Ogden.

Tyson immediately pulled the bus over, came to a complete stop and performed the Heimlich maneuver on Cona to free the obstruction in the boy's windpipe. Only after restoring the flow of oxygen to the boy's small lungs and bringing his color back did Tyson call the incident into the transportation department, a move Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Kermis said "certainly saved a life."

Added Proukou: "The parents were very relieved. His mom indicated to me that when Alex got home he was very excited and said, 'Mommy, mommy, guess what happened to me on the school bus!'"

Source: School Transportation News, November 2005. All rights reserved.