A simple act of kindness from Washington state school bus driver and Army veteran John Lunceford has garnered national attention: He gave a child gloves and a stocking cap.
Lunceford picked up a child who was freezing while waiting at his bus stop, crying because he was so uncomfortable. Lunceford noticed that the boy had very bright red ears and hands. He gave the boy his gloves and told him, “It’ll be OK, it’ll be OK.”
After dropping off the students at school, Lunceford headed to a dollar store, where he purchased 10 pairs of gloves and hats in black and pink. Lunceford asked school administrations for help locating the freezing child.
He entered the classroom and gave the boy new gloves and a winter hat to keep him warm in the future. He then turned to the other kids in the class and told them that he had extras if any other kids on his bus route needed them.
“There was a little girl who said, ‘I don’t have a hat,’ and I said, ‘I’ll take care of you, sweetie.’ I’m a grandfather, you know. No one wants a kid to suffer like that,” Lunceford said.
A Jacksonville teenager, who has not been identified due to his age, faces a felony charge after Florida police said he admitted shooting a projectile that struck school bus taking students home.
The 17-year-old told detectives the incident occurred after he got bored shooting squirrels with rocks from a BB/pellet gun. He was arrested a short time later as he walked out of a home holding a BB/pellet-type rifle, said Officer Melissa Bujeda.
Bujeda said the Sheriff’s Office charged the teen with shooting objects into an occupied vehicle. A second-degree felony under Florida law, the charge is potentially punishable by up to 15 years in prison and/or up to a $10,000 fine depending on the circumstances and other factors.
The driver safely stopped the bus carrying a dozen students after a projectile struck the vehicle and broke one of its windows. The driver then got the students safety away from the shooting scene, which police said was the right thing to do.
A female student on board sustained a minor cut on one of her fingers, but didn’t require hospitalization.
The students were transferred to another bus, which took them to R.V. Daniels Elementary School nearby to be reunited with their parents.
A man and woman died after slamming their silver 2000 Mercedes-Benz into a Philadelphia school bus and the vehicle caught fire.
The man was driving northbound he crashed his vehicle into the rear of a school bus that was stopped at a red light, police said. The car went underneath the bus. Witnesses said the impact lifted up the bus and moved it forward. The car then burst into flames.
Both the 32-year-old driver and his passenger, an unidentified woman, died in the crash.
The 41-year-old school bus driver was not injured. Police say the bus driver had dropped around two dozen teenagers from Huntington Valley Christian Academy off a few minutes before the crash and no one else was on board.
“She just dropped them off at a nearby church—she said about three minutes prior to the accident,” said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. “So we’re really lucky in that respect.”
Police continued to investigate the crash Monday and said speed likely played a role. Investigators also planned on speaking with two off-duty police officers who witnessed the crash.
A Florida school bus driver was fired after driving in the wrong direction on a one-way road with students on board.
The Fort Meyers mother who witnessed the incident was waiting for her children’s school bus when she saw another bus turn northbound on the southbound split of Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard.
“I automatically was like, ‘My phone, my phone,’” the mother said. “I grabbed my phone and took a picture.”
She said she knew other parents and the school district needed to see what happened, especially since there were children on the bus.
Since the other cars on the road has nowhere to go, the driver continued onto the sidewalk before turning right onto another street.
No one was injured.
“I mean, I hope he gets another job,” the mother said.
The school district said the driver is no longer employed with them.
