Ohio bus driver called hero after sacrificing life for child

AKRON, Ohio — Laura Zborowski is being called a hero after she sacrificed her life to save a student. The 51-year-old school bus driver was working on an evacuation drill with students outside the Middlebury Academy at the time of the accident.

Police say Zborowski pushed a 10-year-old girl out of the way to safety when a bus started rolling backwards. Moments later, she was struck and later died at the hospital.

Long-time neighbor, Steven Mikel, says he’s not surprised by her heroism. “Your character comes through when the chips are down. You react,” Mikel told WKYC. “You don’t think I want to be around for my son.”

Deanna Morrow, a long-time friend and neighbor, says Zborowski leaves behind a 12-year-old son, Tyrese. Morrow said she had raised her son mostly as a single mother and had moved up to Ohio from Texas.

“Really he didn’t have a lot of family,” Morrow said of the son. “It was just him and his mom for a long time, and then his dad finally came back in the picture. I’m hoping his dad’s there for him now.”

Morrow used to babysit Tyrese and reports her children grew up with him. Morrow said both son and mother are good people.

Mikel says Zborowski loved her job as a bus driver and the children she drove.