A high school junior in upstate New York had a heart-stopping morning when a runaway truck barreled straight toward him — and smashed into the back of his stopped school bus.
Jeremiah Rutkowski, 17, stepped out his front door in Madison around 7:15 a.m. on April 7 to catch the bus when the terrifying crash unfolded just feet away, according to WKTV.
“I just figured if that thing’s not going to stop, it’s either going to hit the bus and something’s coming flying at me — or the entire truck is coming flying at me,” the teen said.
Startled, the quick-thinking teen leaped backward just in time as the chaos erupted in front of his house.
As the force of the impact shoved the bus down the road, the teen sprinted back onto the porch, where he met his father, Matt Rutkowski, who rushed outside in panic.
Before taking in the full scene of destruction, the two shared an emotional embrace.
“My first priority was to make sure my son was safe and good,” Matt Rutkowski said. “Opening that door, I wasn’t sure what would happen, so big sigh of relief. That’s why I instantly gave him a hug.”
Once dad realized the driver was alert and the kids were beginning to evacuate the bus, he ran inside to call 911.
Jeremiah Rutkowski, meanwhile, stood frozen.
“I was sort of just paralyzed with shock,” he recalled.
But the moment the first student stepped off the bus, the teen’s instincts kicked in. A counselor at nearby Camp Lookout, he immediately shifted from stunned bystander to calm helper.
“My counselor brain just sort of kicked in, and I automatically just … like, I was fully focused on how everybody felt about the situation,” he said.
There were 23 students on the bus headed to Madison Central School at the time of the crash, which investigators say happened while the bus was stopped with its warning lights activated.
The crash involved 35-year-old Joshua Smith, who was distracted by his cell phone and following the bus too closely, and was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and issued several traffic tickets, the state police said.
Four children and two adults were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, according to State Police, including Smith, the bus driver, two kids in the pickup and two kids from the bus.
For Matt Rutkowski, the terrifyingly close call was a powerful reminder of how quickly life can change.
“Thing like this make you appreciate what you have,” he said, “and how at any moment things can change.”
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