File under 'No good deed goes unpunished' — Truant schoolgirl stops runaway school bus carrying 40 students, then gets detention

It happened last Wednesday morning in Seaside, California.

You could look it up.

Or read Clarissa Aljentera's Monterey Herald story, below.

High school student takes action when driver falls from seat

School bus riders get a brake

Amanda Rouse [above] was not supposed to be on the school bus, but might have averted a tragedy Wednesday when she managed to stop the vehicle after the driver fell out of her seat.

Rouse, a 15-year-old Marina High School student, was sitting behind the driver's seat and pulled the emergency brake when driver Christine L. Graves fell as she made the turn from Contra Costa Street onto Sonoma Avenue in Seaside about 8 a.m.

After Rouse pulled the brake, the bus hit two parked vehicles.

"We hit a bump and everything was going fast," said Rouse. "She fell off the seat and down the stairs."

The driver called to Rouse to pull the emergency brake.

"The back of her head was against the door," Rouse said. "I helped her up and then she called the station to help."

Representatives from the transportation department of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District were summoned.

"She (Rouse) acted in the way that she was trained," said Bill Martin, director of transportation for the school district.

About 40 students from Colton Elementary School were on the bus. They were checked by Seaside firefighters and there were no reported injuries. The students were later transported to school.

Graves, 37, was taken to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula with minor injuries.

Early Wednesday, Rouse felt ill while being bused to Marina High. Rather than calling in sick, she asked Graves if she could stay on the bus for a ride back to the bus yard.

"I should have gotten off the bus and called my grandma," Rouse said.

Her grandmother, Sally Correll, said she was proud Rouse took quick and decisive action — but knows she made the wrong choice because she didn't call in sick to school.

"She is in trouble with school because she made the wrong decision," Correll said. "But I can't help but believe that she was where God wanted her to be."

Rouse must attend Saturday school as punishment.

A CHP report said Graves was not wearing her seat belt at the time of the accident. The reason she lost control and fell out of her seat are under investigation.