An Ohio school bus driver is being remembered as a hero after she gave up her life to save a 10-year-old girl.
Laura Zborowski, of Akron, was killed last Tuesday when a standing bus rolled over her seconds after she pushed the child out of the bus' way, the Associated Press reported.
"I don't think she had time to react," said Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards.
The 8 a.m. incident occurred as Zborowksi, employed by private bus company Petermann, and about 40 students were practicing evacuation drills outside Akron's Middlebury Academy. The students, ranging from kindergartners to eighth-graders, first exited the front of the bus and then got back on to exit through the back.
The 10-year-old, the last to exit, was climbing down when the bus began to roll backward. Zborowksi pushed her on the lawn in the nick of time, but the bus kept rolling before she could move out the way.
Zborowksi died two hours later after she was rushed to a local hospital.
"She sacrificed her own life to save this 10-year-old girl," Edwards told the AP.
National Express Corporation, which owns Cincinnati-based Petermann, said it will cooperate with state investigators and conduct an internal investigation into what caused the bus to roll back.
Ohio State Highway Patrol will also investigate the vehicle's mechanics to determine what went wrong, Edwards told the AP.
Grief counselors were made available to students at the charter school.
"Our focus is making sure kids feel safe and supportive and to get whatever resources we can into the school immediately," Middlebury Academy Executive Director Joe Palmer told the AP.
