Russellville Dad Helps Free Students from Overturned Bus
By: Lisa Mendenhall
Updated: February 22, 2013
Some are calling Russellville dad Jacob Edwards a hero, especially after hearing that some drove right past the scene without stopping.
Edwards says he just did what he knew was right.
"I just asked if they were okay," said Edwards. "And told them I was going to help get them out."
He and his wife were driving on Alaskan Trail to visit his dad when they stumbled on the overturned bus.
"The person ahead of me kept going," said Edwards. "I don't know how you can do that. They had no help, so I had to do what was right."
Before even the emergency responders had arrived Edwards, not only pulled over but in pictures his wife snapped with her phone, you can see him helping to get the small victims out of the overturned bus.
"He told me to stay in the car," Courtney Edwards said. "The bus driver looked very shaken up, it was very scary."
His wife said she wouldn't expect her husband to act any differently.
"Very proud of him," she said, "But I know he would have done it for anybody... He's just like that."
Edwards said if the tables were turned one day, and his daughter was in that situation, he hopes someone would have done the same.
"It was just the right thing to do," he said. "My parents and grandparents always taught me to do that. I didn't do it to garner attention."
Making a scary situation just a little bit easier to get through for everyone on board.
Edwards added, what you can't see in pictures of the accident is that two large trees stopped the bus from rolling into a near-by creek.
He said it made him realize just how lucky everyone on that bus truly was.

