Good Samaritans sprung into action

Good News Daily Crew://

When an unfortunate collision between an Oklahoma school bus and a pickup truck turned a routine day into a life-saving mission. Bobby Wittington, who was initially checking cattle on the family farm, witnessed the aftermath of the crash and immediately knew he had to help.

The accident occurred at 8 a.m. on Monday on Highway 70 near Grandfield, resulting in a pickup truck catching fire. Wittington, guided by a pillar of smoke, approached the scene and discovered a school bus was involved. Another Good Samaritan, Jeff Thornton, was already at the scene, assisting the eight or nine children who had been on the Grandfield Public Schools bus.

With the truck engulfed in flames, Wittington and Thornton decided to take action. They quickly assessed the situation, realizing the only viable option was to use Thornton’s pickup to pull the school bus away from the burning vehicle. Unfortunately, the bus driver, James Jackson, was trapped, and their intervention was crucial to his survival.

Wittington, acknowledging the limited options, stated, “We started to check the kids to make sure they weren’t too seriously injured and waited for help to get there. Those kids had a lot of guardian angels looking over them.” Despite spending 40 years in law enforcement, he commended Jackson for his remarkable efforts in protecting the children.

Jackson was airlifted due to his injuries, and some of the children also sustained injuries in the crash. Tragically, the pickup truck driver, whose identity remains unconfirmed by authorities, succumbed to his injuries.

Reflecting on the incident, Wittington expressed the emotional toll of situations where not everyone can be saved: “The ones you can’t save are the ones that bug you. That’s the ones that bother you.” Both the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Tillman County Sheriff deputies praised Wittington and Thornton for their heroic actions, emphasizing that the outcome would have been much grimmer without their presence.

The cause of the crash remains unknown, leaving authorities to piece together the events leading to this tragic incident.