NORWICH, NY – A quick-thinking school bus driver saved a student from an “almost-certain tragedy” upstate.

Samantha Call’s bus was stopped on State Route 12 in Norwich on the morning of Friday, April 26 when she grabbed 13-year-old Matthew Squires from behind as a car whizzes by the open school bus doors.

“Samantha did an outstanding job,” Norwich Central School District Transportation Supervisor William Loomis said. “All of our drivers undergo continuous training so they’re prepared to handle situations like this. We hope this video [watch it below] helps everyone to realize the dangers of passing a stopped school bus.”

Squires’s mother, Christina Beardsley told WBNG.com she cried when she first saw the video, which has been viewed on Facebook more than 520,000 times since it was posted on Tuesday.

“If she hadn’t had been so vigilant and looking behind her bus because no one really thinks of someone coming on the door side of the bus,” Beardsley said of Call. “I still try to wrap my head around what that person thought was so much more important that he almost hit my son.”

An estimated 50,000 vehicles illegally pass school buses in New York each day. The first-time penalty for passing a school bus that has its red lights flashing is a $250 to $400 fine, 5 points on your license, and/or possibly 30 days in jail.

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