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This mom helped pull students out of overturned school bus

Posted at 2:14 PM, Jan 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-12 15:18:41-05

DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- She said she believed she was in the right place at the right time. Khadijah Holland had driven her children to school when she saw an overturned Dinwiddie County school bus on the side of the road Thursday morning.

"I believe I was there for a reason," Holland said. "It was an eventful morning."

Mother helps save children

Holland said she was the second driver to pull to the Ferndale Road crash scene, right in front of The First Assembly of God church, just after 8 a.m.

The mother of two and another man helped 32 Sutherland Elementary School students safely get off bus #33.

"Because it was flipped over, the students were trying to climb over the back seat near where you get out of the emergency door," recalled Holland.

Overturned Dinwiddie County school bus

She said the students were crying and some suffered scrapes and bruises.

"They were scared. They were so afraid and tears were everywhere," she said. "They were screaming and yelling, but the goal was to just get them off the bus. The bus driver was stuck in her seat."

Dinwiddie Fire reported the 32 students along with the bus driver were all transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

Holland said the roads were not icy and she was not sure what caused the crash.

"I don't know how the accident happened," she said. "There was no ice anywhere."

Holland, who was on her way to breakfast, said she helped because she hoped another parent would do the same thing and rescue her children.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Dinwiddie Schools reopened for the first time since Thursday after weekend snow closed schools across Central Virginia.

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