Bus Driver Dies Behind Wheel While Transporting Kids To School

CHANNELVIEW, Texas (AP) – A bus driver who lost consciousness while transporting students to school and later died is being fondly remembered while a 12-year-old girl who was her passenger is being recognized for her quick thinking.

Linda Kaminski was driving 14 students Thursday morning when she slumped over the steering wheel while stopped at an intersection.

“But when she passed out, her foot came off the pedal and the bus began to roll,” said Lt. Dennis Whitted of the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office. The bus then jumped a curb and bumped a construction sign before coming to a halt, authorities said.

After the bus stopped, a seventh-grade girl, whom school officials have not identified, pushed a button for the emergency brake. She then took Kaminski’s cell phone and dialed 911, Whitted said.

The 12-year-old girl then moved the other students to the back of the bus where they yelled at passing motorists for help. Channelview school officials praised the 12-year-old girl’s bravery.

An unidentified woman stopped and helped students off the bus and onto the sidewalk to wait for emergency workers.

The students huddled together in the cold until another bus arrived to take them on to class, Whitted said. No students were hurt after Kaminski passed out and only a side mirror on the bus was damaged.

Kaminski, 52, who had a history of heart trouble, was rushed by ambulance to East Houston Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead. She drove for the school district in Channelview, a Houston suburb.

“Linda was a dedicated bus driver who loved children,” said Channelview school district spokeswoman Stephanie Schraeder. Kaminski’s oldest child, Amanda, 23, who also drives a Channelview bus, said her mother “loved her job.”

“We think she probably had a massive heart attack. She had had one once before,” she said. School district transportation workers plan to take Kaminski’s No. 71 school bus, which she drove for eight years, to her funeral on Monday.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)