School bus driver Harry Mangol has become a reluctant hero after saving a Pittsburgh area high school student who stopped breathing.
The incident took place while Mangol, who is a former police officer and constable, was approaching his second Highlands High School bus stop Thursday morning and he was alerted about a girl at the stop who had fallen down and twisted her ankle, WTAE reported.
Mangol got out to assist the girl but she suddenly lost consciousness and stopped breathing.
“Next thing I know, her head, eyes went back, she went straight back, then she rolled to the side because she had a backpack on,” he said, per CBS News.
Mangol immediately began CPR and was able to resuscitate the girl, reviving her while her brother called emergency services.
“I got her conscious, took my coat off and put it underneath her head,” he said, per The Tribune-Review.
“I told her, ‘Don't move — don't do anything — there's an ambulance on the way.' ”
After emergency services arrived at the scene and transported the girl, Mangol climbed into his bus and continued on his route.
“I was trained for this, I did what I was trained to do,” he said, per The Tribune-Review.
The girl’s identity wasn’t released but Mangol told CBS he had been driving her to school for the last four years, noting that “she’s always been real cheerful, one of my better students.”
John Risch, a spokesperson for the bus company that employs Mangol, praised him for his actions.
“He went well above and beyond what a normal driver would do,” Risch said, per The Tribune-Review. “He made a difference in somebody's life.”
Mangol is a former student at Highlands High School, his Facebook profile revealed.
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