LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Randy Frantz has one explanation for how he was among the first on the scene of a rollover crash of a Jefferson County Public Schools bus Tuesday morning.

"God put me at that accident this morning," he said. "There's no other way to say it."

Frantz is, of all things, a former transportation director for JCPS. He said it wasn't a typical morning — it was raining and he'd hit the snooze button twice — so he decided to take an alternate route to work. 

That's when he came upon the overturned bus in the westbound lanes of Interstate 64, near the interchange with the Watterson Expressway. JCPS spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan said it was Bus No. 2015 with 21 students from duPont Manual High School and Noe Middle School, as well as one bus driver aboard. Officials said some of the students received minor injuries and all of them were taken to the hospital to get checked out, but everyone aboard — including the bus driver — will be going home safely Tuesday night.

That's thanks to several first responders and community members, according to JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio, but chief among them are two men: Frantz and Mike Sherman. The two were honored as "Good Samaritans" at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Sherman, the owner of Vendome Copper & Brass Works on East Franklin Street, said he witnessed the crash directly in front of him.

"I was coming around that turn, just going over the Watterson on 64," he said. "The bus was in front of me, and all of a sudden, I saw it was sideways and jetting off into the median on the right there. It had to be a hydroplane. The rain was coming down pretty good. And the bus just turned sideways and you could tell it was just going to go directly to the left or to the right off into the grass. And that’s exactly what it did.

"And then when it hit, I’m thinking, 'Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening in front of me.'" 

At that point, he said he turned on his flashers, pulled off to the left and got out of his vehicle to help.

"I ran around to the front, and I saw that the driver was moving, and she was OK, I could tell," he said. "(I was) praying that there wasn't students on the bus, but I could see movement behind her. So I ran around to the back of the bus."

He and another bystander pulled away some brush, opened the back door and started pulling students out.

"They were scared," he said. "There was a lot of screaming, a lot of kids scared.

"A couple of them were complaining about some bumps and bruises. There was one in particular who had a good cut on her head and everything, which, once you start seeing that, then you don't know what else is going on in there."

"They were traumatized," Frantz added. "They had just been through something that likely — and hopefully — they had never been through before. And they all wanted to contact their kin, or significant other, or parent. They were just traumatized."

But what inspired both men was the large number of community members who leaped into action to help the children. Frantz estimates the number to be between 10 and 20, and Sherman said he turned to see a whole line of people behind him to help out.

"Everybody that was there was focused on the children once we knew that the driver was OK," Frantz said. "Whether accounting for kids, making sure kids were OK, calling kids' parents, putting kids in their car while it was raining — it was all about the kids. Everybody just jumped into action and did something. Even a small task. That small task was very big at the time."

Sherman credited the children for not panicking, despite their fear.

"They didn't freak out and they weren't climbing over each other," he said. "They were letting the person in front get out and then the next one came out. No one was rushing or pushing or anything like that."

In fact, he said some of the students were more worried about their bookbags than they were about their own safety.

"They were like, 'My backpack! My backpack!'" he said. "And I'm like, 'I don't think you need that.' I was like, 'Come on, let's get off the bus.'

"I assured one of them that I didn't think their homework was going to be due today."

Both men were were quick to eschew any credit for the positive outcome, with Frantz praising first responders — police, fire and EMS — as what he called the "true community heroes."

"Dr. Pollio, I appreciate your comments, but I don’t think this is about me or Mike or any other community members that were there to assist this morning," he said. "This isn't about us. We're all just extremely thankful that all the students are OK and that all of the family members are going to have their kids back today."

Sherman agreed, citing "a trail of other people from the community" who was standing behind him at the back of the bus to come to the kids' rescue.

"We just happened to be one of the first people there," he said. "Anyone else would have done the exact same thing." 

"It's actually pretty cool to know that so many people in the community would just jump in and help," he said. "It makes you feel really good about the city and the community of Louisville."

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