MONTICELLO – As their school bus went the wrong way onto the off-ramp of Route 17 and towards almost certain disaster on March 5, two Monticello high-school students with medical training sprang into action and stopped the bus before it could proceed to the highway’s oncoming traffic. On April 9, Emma Stanton and Gavin Shupe publicly shared their story and received commendation from the legislature for their heroic act.

Public Safety and Law Enforcement Chair Luis Alvarez congratulated the students and said, “I’m very proud of both of you, and I would love to hear from you a short version of what really happened and who did what.” 

“We were on the bus,” recalled Stanton, “and we were coming back from our Health Occupation [class at Garnet Health Medical Center] and we realized we were going the wrong way, so we were confused… And then we were in Liberty and [the bus driver] was hitting the curb of the traffic circle.” The students quickly realized that the bus was headed the wrong way towards the off-ramp of the highway. 

Stanton continued: “It was fight or flight, so I thought, ‘I need to do something because we’re gonna die if I don’t do something; we’re not gonna die today.’” At that point she saw Shupe pull the yellow emergency brake and realized that she needed to pull the red emergency brake to stop the bus completely.

“We started going onto the off-ramp, which generally isn’t supposed to happen,” said Shupe, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with the Rock Hill Ambulance Corps. “I was in the first seat, so I hopped up and got down next to the driver and he obviously wasn’t doing ok. I tried getting him to pull off to the side of the road, and he did, a little bit, but the bus was still going, so I pulled the first yellow brake and Emma then came up behind me and pulled the red brake and the bus stopped…  I’m glad everyone’s ok.” 

Shupe and Stanton received a standing ovation from the audience and an official proclamation from the legislature commending them for their courage and skill.

Village of Influence

Sullivan County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Coordinator Alex Rau described the incident as a “fascinating story of heroism. I’ve been doing [emergency services] for 33 years, and I haven’t seen anything like it in the form of teenagers and I think it’s worth recognizing.” 

Rau said Shupe had just completed his EMT course the previous week at SUNY Sullivan and that both Shupe and Stanton were Health Occupation students at Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). Rau said these educational experiences directly led to these students having the confidence and skillset to jump into action and do what needed to be done. 

“They directed everyone on the bus to call 911 and they did,” said Rau. “For a dispatcher to see 30 lines light up at the same time is usually a clue of something bad. They assessed the driver, provided care, and gave a report to incoming first responders. In that moment, they became heroes. As first responders, we all too often see wrong way driving incidents on Route 17 ending not so favorably.”

Rau then gave an earnest shout out to all the people who encouraged these students: “I just want to recognize the village of influence that went into these two teenagers doing what they did. Somebody had to help shape that, and that starts with the family of course, building the values.” He then thanked the efforts of Monticello School District, recognizing Superintendent Dr. Matthew Evans and Principal Jennifer Gorr, who were in attendance. He also thanked Dr. David Potash and SUNY Sullivan for their EMT programs and BOCES for their Health Occupations program.

Commissioner of Public Safety Scott Schulte concluded the ceremony by remarking, “Very often we want to be in the background and allow others to handle the situation, but these two individuals did the opposite; they stepped up, they risked themselves in order to save others… If we continue to have young individuals like this that are focused on helping others, I think we’ll be in a great place moving forward, so thank you for what you did and congratulations.”