Damian Williams

🚨 THIS YOUNG MAN IS A HERO. Fourteen-year-old Acie Holland III was riding home from school, looking at his phone, when something felt wrong. The bus had passed his stop. Then it began accelerating. Acie looked toward the front and saw the driver unconscious over the steering wheel. The moving bus, carrying 14 students, was drifting across the centerline toward oncoming traffic. Acie did not scream. He did not freeze. He did not wait for an adult to save them. This eighth grader ran forward, seized the steering wheel, guided the bus back into its lane, moved the driver’s foot from the accelerator and pressed the brake until that enormous bus came safely to the curb. He could not find the parking brake, so he turned the wheels hard toward the curb to prevent the bus from rolling away. That is presence of mind under pressure. Then Acie checked on the younger students, told them to contact their parents, made certain 911 had been called and went to get his grandmother, Phyllis Holland, who is a nurse. The driver regained consciousness and received medical care. Every student made it home safely. Acie had worked on cars with his father and enjoyed go-karting, but nothing could have completely prepared a 14-year-old boy to take control of a moving school bus. Something had already been built inside him: courage, mechanical understanding, responsibility and the instinct to protect others. His classmates gave him a new name: “AC-Hero.” That name fits. While the world spends enormous energy telling us what is wrong with young men, Acie Holland III reminded us what can be right with them. Fourteen students reached home because one young man recognized the danger, stepped forward and acted. May God continue to strengthen this remarkable young man. #AStoneGroove #SilentMajoritySpeaks