A student in Buffalo, New York left a note on college athlete Andrew Sipowicz’s car, after her school bus driver hit it and drove away.
The note, which was left on Sipowicz’s car on Nov. 20, read, “If your wondering what happen to your car, Bus 449 hit your car. It stops here every day to drop me off at 5:00 p.m. What happened? She was trying to pull off and hit the car. She hit and ran. She tried to vear-over and squeeze but couldn’t. She actually squeezed through. She made a dent and I saw what happened. Sorry. Driver seat left door. A lady in the bus driver seat 449. Buffalo public school bus.
— A 6th grader at Houghten academy.”
At the conclusion of the note, there was also an illustration of the bus with the child looking out of the car.
Sipowicz said when he first saw his car, he was angry, but the girl’s note and illustration completely changed his mood.
“My first reaction was [that] I [was] really surprised. I didn’t think somebody would leave a note like that,” Sipowicz said.
A tweet posted by Sipowicz said “Shoutout to the anonymous 6th grader for saving me a couple thousand (bus not drawn to scale),” which was accompanied by a picture of the note and his car. The tweet went viral, and many people became aware of the child’s good deed. Sipowicz said he didn’t want to post the tweet initially, but was persuaded to do so by some of his teammates, who anticipated that the tweet would only generate a thousand likes.
Shoutout to the anonymous 6th grader for saving me a couple thousand (Bus not drawn to scale) pic.twitter.com/7aNK10xSwX
— Andrew Sipowicz (@Andrew_Sipowicz) November 20, 2018
When bus company operator First Student heard of the news, the company jumped into action immediately.
A representative for First Student told STN that the company is covering the cost of damage to Sipowicz’s car, and paying for a loaner car while his car gets fixed, which Sipowicz confirmed. The bus driver was fired and an investigation into the accident is currently underway.
“We have initiated a process to terminate the driver, [and we are] still investigating [the incident]. [We are] not sure on all of the details, but we know enough that the driver did not follow our training, which is something we take very seriously,” a First Student spokesperson said.
Despite the actions taken by the bus driver, the student on the bus showed exceptional behavior.
“We are certainly very impressed by the actions of the sixth-grader, the [exceptional] sixth-grader who wrote the letter, and we commended her for her actions,” a First Student spokesperson said.
Sipowicz said he is still in the process of contacting the student. His college, Canisius College in Buffalo, is doing everything it can to reach Buffalo Public Schools media relations officials, so that Sipowicz can meet the student and reward her.
Sipowicz is still deciding what gift he wants to get for her. However, he is thinking about a gift card for her favorite store. He is not the only one hoping to reward the girl for her actions. Sipowicz’s mom wants to throw a pizza party for the class, plus the school is considering honoring the student at halftime during a basketball game.
“I am so grateful that the girl left a note. Without her, there would be a ton of headaches that I would have to deal with right now,” Sipowicz concluded.
