Bus Driver Catches Autistic Girl Who Fell 3 Stories

A New York City bus driver is being hailed as a hero for saving a 7-year-old girl who fell three stories from an air conditioning unit outside a Brooklyn building. "I just prayed that I'd catch her," Stephen St. Bernard recalled after rescuing the child yesterday. He did. St. Bernard said he was walking home from work when he observed a commotion outside the Coney Island housing complex. He saw the girl standing on the air conditioning unit, seemingly unafraid and moving about.

An amateur video shows St. Bernard yelling up to the girl, telling her to go back inside, when she suddenly falls—and he catches her in his arms. The girl was taken to a Coney Island hospital with minor injuries. St. Bernard, a father of four, suffered a torn tendon in his shoulder. Media reports say the girl has autism, and no charges were filed against the parents. (More bus driver stories.)