A St. Paul man sprinted after a rolling school bus with its doors open, climbed aboard, and brought it to a stop after the driver suffered a medical emergency protecting the middle-school students inside.
Ebro Ahmed, 27, was outside Ya Bricks Snacks and Tobacco in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood on Monday afternoon, October 19, 2026, when the Battle Creek Middle School bus passed by. Surveillance video from the store captured him running and boarding the still-moving vehicle.
“I saw a bus roll past me with the doors open, and I saw the bus driver seizing up,”
Ahmed told KSTP.
“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. And then I called the police and called the ambulances so they could help the driver.”
Ahmed explained that 18 children were on the bus. Some news sources reported 19 or nearly 20 kids, none of whom were harmed. A medical emergency involving some of the students on the bus was confirmed by the Saint Paul Public Schools, and they also reported that the paramedics came to the scene and that another bus completed the journey to bring the kids home.
Ahmed has no formal bus-driving or medical training. He credited the TV show Grey’s Anatomy with helping him stay composed, noting that doctors on the series never panic while making clear the drama is not real emergency training.
“I really felt like it was my duty,”
He told hypefresh.
“Also, too, it’s kids we’re talking about, you know. Even if I were to die, it would still be worth it.”
He added,
“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.”
On Thursday, local media entrepreneur Sheletta Brundidge of ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com presented Ahmed with a $1,000 check near the store. A widely shared photo showed him receiving the oversized reward alongside a person in a Superman costume. Brundidge praised his decision to board the bus instead of filming or simply calling 911 from a distance:
“His first instinct was to jump on and rescue the children and the driver. He saved them all. Not all heroes wear capes; some are store clerks.”
Ahmed’s split-second choice turned a potential neighborhood disaster into a story of quick thinking and care for kids. In a moment when many might freeze or reach for a phone, he acted.
