Too often drivers ignore or don’t notice a stopped school bus. The Onondaga Traffic Safety Advisory Board recently held their annual “Operation Safe Stop” event reminding drivers to watch for school buses and stop when a bus' stop sign is out. It was also an opportunity for the East Syracuse Minoa School District and local officials to honor bus driver Jay Leo for saving students from a car speeding through their path as they were exiting their school bus.

For his quick, life-saving action, East Syracuse Minoa Central School District's Jay Leo is being honored as an Everyday Hero.

For almost three decades Leo has been driving school buses for East Syracuse Minoa Central School District. He takes us back to that snowy February day.

“I open the door, red lights went on. And I caught a car out of my mirror here kind of zigzagging, a little bit out of my left mirror. And then I turned around and I put my hand up on the seat up here to stop the students from getting off and in case the gentleman had impacted the back of the bus, the student would have fallen and fell on the floor and gotten hurt. I thought he was going to hit us, but he actually got around us and went by the side of the bus doing at least 55,” said Leo.

Pointing out of the bus window he says, “Right here. There's the mailbox, that's the house. There's a big ditch, and he missed all that and came right back out on the road, and was gone.”

Manlius Police say they located the driver after the incident using camera footage from the bus. That driver faced a hearing on May 5 in the town of Manlius court, facing several misdemeanor charges. 

Leo wasn't the only adult on the bus that day and he won't accept all the credit for keeping the students safe.

Estera Paashaus has worked as a East Syracuse Minoa Central School District bus attendent with Leo for five years. She says in the moment, she knew something was wrong.

“I realized that he was not moving, as I'm walking from the back of the bus. I usually tell the kids, 'have a great day,' and check their seats to make sure they're not leaving anything behind, but nothing is happening; he's not moving," said Paashaus. "I don't think I said anything for like the next 10 minutes. That could have been the last time you have your child, putting them on the bus in the morning and never to have the opportunity to get them off the bus. That said, just because you decided not to pay attention.”

In New York, the Governor's Traffic Safety Board reports that 50,000 vehicles a day pass a stop school bus, risking the lives of 2 million students.

“Here a car comes straight onto us and flies through because they don't want to wait 30 seconds for the students to cross the road and we have the most precious thing in the world on the buses: someone's kid. You got to get somewhere, so they just fly through the lights. Heads up, bus drivers are out there. The buses are there. Be more cautious on passing, put your cell phone down and drive your car," said Leo.