Nine pre-teen day campers escaped injury when a 16-year-old counselor took control of the bus that was careening toward an Elmhurst intersection – after the driver died and fell out into the street.
The kids were on their way home after a day of fun at Magic Carpet Day Camp in Bayside on Tuesday, August 18, when 59-year-old Salvatore Ramon Fernandez began feeling ill, according to the heroic employee, Rachel Guzy of Astoria.
“He took off his glasses and was rubbing his eyes,” she told The Queens Courier, “He did that when he had a headache.”
At about 4:35 p.m., Fernandez stopped for water and drinks for Guzy and the other boys and girls, ranging in age from nine to 12 years old, she recalled. “He left the door to the bus open when he drove away, which was odd,” Guzy said.
Five minutes later, things started coming apart, according to the plucky youth.
“We were about two blocks from one kid’s house, when he said ‘It’s too hot, it’s too hot . . . ‘ and slouched over – I yelled ‘Why are you doing that, there’s a car coming’ – and then he fell out of the bus into the middle of the street.”
The quick-thinking girl stomped on the brake pedal even before getting into the driver’s seat, brought the bus to a halt and set the parking brake.
Then, the pint-sized hero went out to check on the driver, who was lying face down near the intersection of Elmhurst Avenue and Hampton Street.
Police say that the Medical Examiner is investigating to determine what killed Fernandez.
“They were all terrified – screaming and crying,” Guzy recalled, adding matter-of-factly, “My only regret is that I wasn’t calmer.”
She was able to save the day thanks to a simple twist of fate; she had changed seats shortly before the incident and was in the passenger-side seat closest to the ill-fated driver. “I was in the second row, but I told Priscilla [a camper] to move over and moved to the first row,” she recalled.
“It happened so fast, a lot of us were scared,” said Priscilla Aunchayna, a sixth-grade student at P.S. 11 in Woodside, shortly after the incident. “She [Guzy] saved our lives because she pulled the brake,” the camper said.
Camp owner Brett Tawill said he wasn’t really surprised at the heroism of his summer-job hiring choice. “We interview for character, poise and maturity,” he said.
“My gut told me Rachel was going to be a great camp counselor,” Tawill said, recalling her interview in June, “and when she was on her own and the chips were down, she made us proud. We hire the best kids in Queens.”
Amazingly, although another car was struck sometime during the incident, there were no other injuries, except perhaps for the savior’s mom, Jo Ann Allgor. “Her arm was all black-and-blue from where I was hanging on to her after the accident,” Guzy said, noting that her mother has now promised to teach her to drive.
