They do more than merely drive busloads of squirming youngsters from home to school then back again.
A group of First Student Inc. bus drivers proved Friday that they also stand guard over passengers and, in a pinch, will help police track down and capture predators.
That's the way it was for First Student driver Brian Spears, 35, of Kankakee, when he saw a 7-year-old girl running in tears from the bus stop at South East Avenue and Charles Street on Friday morning.
"It's part of the job. Caring about the kids," Spears said Wednesday, just hours after interim Kankakee School District No. 111 Superintendent Rick Bukowski lauded him and fellow drivers for quick action.
"The bus driver did a spectacular job protecting that kid and bringing the police in," Bukowski told the school board.
Savoy resident Jose E. Davila, 29, was arrested by the Kankakee Police Department for attempted child abduction and criminal sexual abuse after allegedly fondling then attempting to coax the 7-year-old to accompany him.
Instead, she grabbed her book bag and ran toward home. That's where Spears came in.
Shouting to the girl to get into his bus, Spears learned that she'd allegedly been abused by a man still in the area.
"I got on the radio to First Student dispatch to let them know about the situation and (manager) Aggie Lewis immediately called police," said Spears.
Meanwhile, three other drivers heard the communication and quickly drove their big yellow buses toward the area to aid in tracking down the culprit, who by this time was back in his car and driving away.
"My co-workers came to the rescue," said Spears, noting that a total of four drivers were using their buses to hunt for the culprit.
It didn't take long before they found him, said Spears.
"The other drivers had boxed him in an alley" between Water Street and Charles Avenue, Spears said. That's where police caught up with Davila, standing near one of the buses.
The drivers said he calmly placed his hands behind his back as police approached.
Spears stayed with the girl near the point where she'd gotten on his bus.
Lewis, the First Student manager, lauded her drivers, noting that company management joined her in that praise.
Bukowski also praised the action of the 7-year-old intended victim, a Taft Elementary School student. Bukowski said "the child acted just the way she should have."
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This guy was actually in my yard, and my downstairs neighbor was outside and saw him hiding in my landlords garden. She asked him what he was doing, and he got up and started walking towards her... but she let her pitbull lose on him and he ran away. To where the cops were waiting for him :D
