VIDEO: Trucker hailed as a hero for using big rig to shield students from car

A truck driver has been recognized for acting to protect students who were boarding a school bus from a passenger vehicle driver in Alabama on Tuesday.

The incident took place on the morning of April 4 in Odenville, Alabama, as the driver of a black sedan reportedly attempted to pass a school bus while children were loading.

A semi truck driver spotted the car driver attempting to pass the bus and edged his vehicle into the path of the car to block it from passing the bus and possibly injuring students.

The incident was partially caught on video by Katie Thornburg, who wrote:

“The guy in that 18-wheeler is a true HERO! He potentially saved the lives of several OES/OIS students this morning as a car appeared to attempt to pass a bus that was stopped to load students. The black Altima/Maxima drove out of line and the truck driver swerved out in front of it, preventing what could have been a very tragic event. I was sick to my stomach and actually closed my eyes because I didn’t want to watch if the worse happened. I am so thankful he was there this morning to potentially save all those lives. He pulled into Angler Recycling and I pulled in behind him to thank him! We should all be very thankful for his swift action this morning that likely prevented a tragedy.”

The truck driver was later identified by Thornburg as Ty McDanal.

After learning of the incident, the ODENVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT (OPD) released a statement on the importance of school bus safety.

“The Odenville Police Department was made aware of an incident this morning where a car attempted to pass a stopped School bus loading students. A driver of a commercial truck blocked this driver possibly preventing students from being harmed. We would like to remind all drivers to be patient and not put our children or other drivers in harm’s way,” OPD said.

You can see Thornburg’s video below.