EAST SYRACUSE-MINOA SCHOOLS – An East Syracuse Minoa bus driver is being praised for his instinct in preventing a recent mishap from turning tragic.
On Thursday, Feb. 3, just after Jay Leo’s bus crossed onto Collamer Road from North Manlius, the bus came to a stop with its red lights flashing.
Despite this, the school bus was passed on the right by a motorist suspected of reckless driving.
“I was fully anticipating an impact with this car because it looked like they were all over the road and not in control,” Leo said.
The mid-afternoon incident occurred while he was dropping off his passengers from Minoa Elementary, which amidst its remodeling project has been holding classes out of the Lake Street Elementary building in Chittenango.
With their mother Jennifer Blowey waiting inside by her bay window, brother and sister Lincoln and Lily were, at that moment, standing by the first row of seats as the next two to exit the bus.
However, having taken note of the approaching car in his mirrors, Leo quickly held his arm across the aisle, thus blocking the siblings from stepping through those open doors.
The car then veered off the road, narrowly missed a maple tree and zipped over the curb within inches of the bus before striking the Blowey family’s mailbox and speeding away, Leo said.
“I cannot express how grateful I am that he saw that coming right in time,” Jennifer Blowey said. “He’s such an awesome bus driver, and he always makes sure that he keeps the kids safe.”
After watching the near-catastrophe transpire, Blowey rushed outside to hug her two children, though Lily, her fifth grader, thought it more pressing to pick up the envelopes of mail that had been strewn all over the front yard.
Going by the premise that the passing driver was still capable of making a last-second maneuver, Leo said their better option would have been to swerve to the left side of the bus.
“There was no oncoming traffic and there was more room,” he said. “He could’ve easily gone around that way, and it would’ve been a lesser predicament that wouldn’t have endangered children’s lives.”
Leo said he was unable to determine the exact make, model and license plate number of the car through his snow-clearing windshield wipers, but dashboard camera footage has been turned over to local police.
In addition to serving as the head coach of the high school’s varsity wrestling team, Jay Leo has been a bus driver in the ESM Central School District for 28 years. For his current route, he transports mostly children with special needs.
