Boy Safely Steers Out-of-Control School Bus

April 9, 2008 — -- An 11-year-old Cleveland boy is being heralded for his heroic actions after he steered a school bus full of children to safety Monday when it began rolling down a hill.

"The bus had started rolling. Then there was a truck in front of it, and I looked up and it was rolling. Then I decided to get in front of the wheel to turn it from the truck," fifth-grader David Murphy said today on "Good Morning America."

David, who was scared he would get into trouble for driving the vehicle, maneuvered the unattended bus with 26 schoolmates aboard away from the two-lane street where traffic was headed toward the bus and into the Inner Belt Bridge support. He eventually crashed the bus into a pillar.

The riders panicked with some girls beginning to cry when the bus began heading down the hill.

"They was freaking out. Everybody started screaming and hollering," David said.

About four children began to jump off the bus to escape, said David's 12-year-old brother, Patrick Murphy.

"They got off from the front of the bus," he said. "I was about to jump off. I didn't. I decided not to because I didn't want to leave my brother."

When the commotion ended, the bus looked almost as if it had been parallel parked on the side of the road.

"I took the wheel and I had turned the wheel on the sidewalk and aimed for [the pillars]," David said.

The boys' mother, Patricia Murphy, said David was still in shock over the incident. Initially, she said, he was very quiet over what happened.

"He was terrified. I thought the reason why he wasn't talking [was] because I think that him driving behind the wheel just scared him enough," she said. "He was so quiet."

Patricia Murphy said she was surprised to learn of her son's heroics.

"I was amazed. I was in shock. The way the bus looked and when I seen the position of the bus, it seemed like it was parked," she said. "I couldn't believe that he had that strength and that direction."

She questioned her son afterward, and David told her he aimed for the pillars because he really didn't want to go down the hill. He also had enough foresight to jump into the nearest seat after he saw the bus going toward the pillar because he didn't want to get thrown out of the window.

"David is absolutely the most modest hero I've ever met, but [if not] for his actions, that bus would have went right down into the river. He saved all of those children's lives," said the Murphys' lawyer and family friend Brian Seitz. "I think it has yet to really sink in. He's very, very modest. I want to commend him. I've known the family for quite some time. But [if not] for his action, 26 of his classmates and possibly his own life would have possibly — could have been a horrible tragedy."