Bus driver credited with saving special-needs student’s life

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. — Danny Waldrum, a bus driver for Durham School Services, is credited with saving the life of a special-needs student he was transporting last month.

On the morning of May 2, Waldrum noticed that Connor DiLorenzo, who is autistic, was choking. Paula Davison, operations supervisor for Durham, told The Union that Waldrum saw that DiLorenzo’s ears were blue, so he pulled the bus over and called 911.

After releasing the restraints on DiLorenzo’s harness, Waldrum checked to see if the boy was breathing before administering an abdominal thrust, which dislodged a small pebble from his throat.

When rescuers arrived, they took DiLorenzo to the hospital as a precaution.

Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital paramedic Jim Mathias, who was one of the first people to arrive at the scene, told The Union that “it's absolutely possible” DiLorenzo could have lost his life without Waldrum's quick action.

The boy’s mother told the news source she did not know how he acquired the small rock he choked on.