Woman without driver’s license saves bus after driver passes out

A Baltimore County woman saved a Maryland Transit Administration bus from crashing after the driver had some sort of medical emergency Tuesday afternoon, police said.

When Janai Stafford got on the bus in Owings Mills on Tuesday afternoon, she was looking forward to a relaxing afternoon.

Stafford said the bus she boarded outside a Giant was full of kids, so she stayed up front and stood next to the driver.  She said they were approaching the Beltway when the incident happened.

"All of a sudden (the bus driver) said, 'Something's not right. I don't feel good. Something's not right,'" Stafford said. "And then all of a sudden, he passed out all over the wheel."

That's when Stafford said she knew she had to take control of the bus.

"I put my foot on his foot. I didn't even know what foot to put," Stafford said. "It just happened. I put my foot on his foot, and I just wrapped my arm around him, and I steered the bus to the right and parked it."

Stafford said she thinks about what could have happened.

"It could have gone onto (Interstate) 695. It could have drifted down Reisterstown Road," she said.

Stafford doesn't have a driver's license, she said.

The bus driver, who hasn't been identified, was taken to Northwest Hospital. His condition was not immediately known.