Children Assault Bus-Jacker with Questions; He Lets Them Go
On May 6th, an Army recruit went AWOL (military slang for ‘absent without leave’) and proceeded to hijack a school and attempted force the driver at gunpoint to drive to the next town.
The driver kept his cool and eventually everyone made it out safely. The driver, Kenneth Corbin, said his motivation for keeping his cool was to protect the children.
“[It is] so evident that they were precious cargo, and I pretty much just had to just do whatever, you know, to get them off the bus safe and sound.”
Corbin said the above during a May 17th interview with Good Morning America produced by ABC. In the interview, Corbin recounted the anxiety inducing yet somewhat comical and definitely heartwarming story.
“I didn't want to do anything that would, you know, rile him to cause him to do something that would bring harm to my kids…. [I]t seemed as if their [the children’s] goal [was] to do the same by me…”
Although hailed as a hero, the bus driver gave the eighteen schoolchildren credit for everyone getting out of the situation safely.
"The kids were the ones that actually got the gentleman off of the bus, and they pretty much had my back as much as my concerns were with them. And at the end when they started questioning him, it seemed to have frustrated him because his main objective was to get to the next town; but in the end I think we were only on the road about four miles, and he just got frustrated with the questions and just told me to stop the bus and just get off: 'All y'all get off.'"
The hijacker seemed to be trying to get home after deserting. Some questions the kids on the bus asked him were “Are you a soldier” and “Why are you doing this?” and “Are you gonna hurt us?” These questions made the carjacker, Jovan Collazo, very uncomfortable. He responded that he was not planning on hurting anyone, despite aiming his military-issue rifle at Mr. Corbin. However, Collazo could not give a good answer as to why he was doing what he was doing.
Corbin did not think that this barrage of question aimed at the hijacker was merely the antics of scared and/or curious kiddos. In fact, Corbin went so far as to call the kids on the bus with “my heroes.”
This almost-disastrous story is an inspiring reminder about the power of children. Young children are malleable and often foolish, but they can be brave and loyal. It is also a good lesson on being calm in the face of danger.
Douglas Phillips is a native Texan, having been born and raised in the Lone Star State. He writes on political philosophy and current events.
