Ebro Ahmed, 27, Leapt Through the Open Door of a Runaway St. Paul School Bus and Pulled the Emergency Brake, Saving 19 Middle Schoolers

At about 3:17 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, Ebro Ahmed was kicking a soccer ball outside his family’s corner store in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood when a school bus rolled past with its door open, according to MPR News. Within about 15 seconds he had run after it, climbed aboard and helped bring it to a stop with 19 Battle Creek Middle School students inside.

Three weeks later, on Nov. 9, the city of St. Paul gave him a day of his own. Mayor Kaohly Her proclaimed Nov. 9, 2026, Ebro Ahmed Day, and the Saint Paul Fire Department presented the 27-year-old with its Heroism Award, MPR News reported.

A Soccer Ball, an Open Door and 15 Seconds

Ahmed works at Ya Bricks Snacks and Tobacco, his family’s store on the city’s east side. MPR News reported that business was slow that afternoon, so he stepped outside to kick a ball around. Store surveillance video shows a school bus passing with its door open and its crossing arm extended.

Ahmed said the driver appeared to be having a seizure. That is his account of what he saw, not a confirmed diagnosis. He told Gray News stations that he yelled to get attention, then ran toward the bus when he noticed the open door.

He had never driven a bus. Nineteen students from Battle Creek Middle School were aboard, along with the driver. Nobody else was nearby, Ahmed said, and no cars were in the way.

Reverse by Mistake, Then Neutral and the Brake

The footage released by the store shows the first attempt did not go cleanly. FOX 9 reported that Ahmed put the bus in reverse by mistake, then shifted to neutral and set the parking brake. MPR News and the Nov. 9 coverage describe him pulling the emergency brake to finish the stop.

Ahmed was candid about the confusion. He told FOX 9 he wondered in the moment whether he was doing the right thing or had misread the situation. Two girls at the front of the bus helped him, he said, and one student called police at his direction.

He also spoke to Good Morning America, where he said the stop came “seconds before anything happened” and credited television medical dramas with helping him stay calm. Asked why he ran toward the bus, he told MPR News that “everybody would have done it.”

The first days of the rescue, along with the seizure first-aid guidance that ran with it, are covered in the original report on this site.

What the District Said About the Students and the Driver

Saint Paul Public Schools said the emergency happened on a contracted route out of Battle Creek Middle School. The district said no students were hurt, that the delay likely made some children late getting home and that some may have been upset. Some students walked home and the rest were taken home on another bus. The district’s mental health team checked in with students the next day.

The driver was taken to a hospital by paramedics, later released and was resting at home, according to the district. Ahmed told reporters he hopes to meet the driver and the driver’s family.

Fire Station 7 on Nov. 9: A Day in His Name

The City of St. Paul’s meeting calendar listed a City Council recognition ceremony for Monday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. at Saint Paul Fire Station 7 on East Ross Avenue. According to Power 104.7 and MPR News, the council had passed a resolution the week before recognizing his “extraordinary bravery, quick thinking and selfless actions.”

Assistant Fire Chief Jeramiah Melquist presented the Heroism Award. Courage, he said, is “not defined by uniform or title, but by a decision to help others when they need it most.” U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum’s office also sent a certificate of congressional recognition.

Council Member Cheniqua Johnson said leaders “step up to what the call is, even when they’re not expected to be that way.” Superintendent Stacie Stanley told the room that each of the 19 students has a destiny and that Ahmed “saved the destiny of 19 young people,” MPR News reported. She also credited the family business for putting him in the right place.

Ahmed thanked his family, his faith and his community. On the attention Minnesota has received lately, he said he hopes the story helps people see the state differently: “Anything to make Minnesota look better.”

From a $1,000 Surprise Back to the Students

The city’s day was not the first honor. On Thursday, Oct. 22, media maker and philanthropist Sheletta Brundidge surprised Ahmed at the store with a costumed Superman, performer Brian Lepel, and a $1,000 check. “Not all superheroes wear capes; some are store clerks,” Brundidge told Storyful, per Good Morning America. MPR News reported Ahmed planned to put the money toward a window-tinting business. The Human Development Fund of St. Paul also gave him its Hero Award.

The next stop is a smaller, quieter one. Ahmed plans to visit Battle Creek Middle School on Wednesday to see the students again.

For parents who watched the video, the part that stays is how little time there was. A bus with no one at the wheel, a bystander who happened to be outside, and under a minute to act. The students all got home unharmed, the district said, and the man who made that possible now has a day on the city calendar. It is the kind of story that makes parents think about the people who share the road with their kids every afternoon, from bystanders to drivers like Henry Mercer, who just marked 46 years at the wheel in DeKalb County.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Missvain – CC BY 4.0/Wikimedia Commons