I met Acie Holland III outside of Glen Hills Middle School in Glendale nearly a week after his harrowing school bus save. He was dressed in sweats and seemed relaxed as he prepared to recount the moment he has become recognized for.
On the evening of April 24, Holland’s school bus driver experienced a medical emergency and temporarily lost consciousness.
Holland says there were mainly 4th, 5th and 6th graders on the bus, and a few 8th graders.
He describes what unfolded.
"So, uh we was driving on 26th and Villard. We usually turn on 25th and Villard and we get closer to 25th and the bus like accelerated like super hard so I look up ‘cause we missed our turn so I look up like, 'Where she going?' I look up, but then I seen her head just go to the steering wheel," Holland says. "I got up, ran up there. Her foot was sideways; moved her foot off the gas, it was on the brake already. So, got the wheel, turned the wheel, got it closer to the curb, hit the brake and then let it roll up on the curb because I ain’t know where the emergency brake was."
Holland says he told one of the other students to call their parents and the police, and he then ran home to get help from his grandma. She is a nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital.
He says when they returned, help had arrived.
Holland says he gets his quick thinking from his parents; they’ve always taught him to watch his surroundings. In that moment, Holland says, he just wanted to get the bus to stop.
"When I looked up and I seen a semi down there, then I seen these trees. I’m looking and I’m like alright we gon’ go into trees, creek, then the semi. And then when I look on the other side, I see cars coming that way, so I’m like well, I only got one way to go," Holland says.
Holland says he doesn’t think he was scared at the moment, but when he got home that day, the reality of what he’d just been through hit him. He says it was like, “Oh, that really happened.”
Even his parents were in disbelief.
But it did happen, and Holland’s community has let him know he is appreciated.
At a recent Glendale-River Hills School Board meeting, Holland received certificates of appreciation from the board and Riteway Bus Service. He also has proclamations from the City of Glendale and the State of Wisconsin, a Citizen Merit Award from the Glendale Police Department and the Northshore and Milwaukee fire departments.
Holland says a lot of people are calling him their hero. He humbly says, "It's alright."
Holland described himself to me as an “outside kid.” He likes to work on cars, ride bikes, and drive a little — with his dad. He says he sees himself working on cars in some capacity in the future.
That’s likely why he was so prepared in a moment where he was in the right place at the right time.
