Two people jump into action when school bus driver falls unconscious

It’s a good thing Connor Morris’ moped is fast.

“I hit the throttle on the moped and went up on the curb,” Morris said.

He had to catch up to a school bus. Morris said, “I think it kind of scared me because I assumed there were children on the bus.”

That bus was heading to Freedom Preparatory Academy in Provo when Morris noticed it seemingly out of control.

“At first, he actually ran over a road sign, went through the roundabout going pretty slow, and then I saw him pop up on the curb and start heading to the fence,” Morris said.

Inside that bus was Terry Byrnes. He was slumped over behind the wheel. His granddaughter Kamrynn McCurdy was with him and doing whatever she could to get her grandfather’s attention.

“I tried to talk to him and he didn’t respond,” McCurdy. She is a bus aide working with her grandfather.

“She’s just a good kid,” Byrnes said about his granddaughter.

They were heading to the school to pick kids up this past Wednesday when he had some sort of medical issue while driving.

“When I got going down the road, all of a sudden, things started coming in on me,” Byrnes said.

He blacked out. McCurdy jumped up to take the wheel and was pulling over to some gravel on the side of 800 North when she saw Morris jump off his moped.

“I opened the door for him, and he came to help my grandpa,” McCurdy said.

 

Provo Police Department’s chief awarded the two with a Citizen Recognition Award for not only helping save Byrnes but to keep that bus from doing any more damage.

“It’s a big honor,” McCurdy said.

Morris said, “I think it came down to it just needed to be done.”

Byrnes is 82 years old. He said he was thinking about retiring, again anyway. After what happened Wednesday, he thinks he’s done driving school buses.