The 11-year-old boy who steered a runaway school bus to safety said Wednesday he did it because he saw a truck coming at them and because his brother also was on the bus.

David Murphy said he worried afterward that he might get in trouble for jumping into the driver’s seat, but he said police and fire officials reassured him that he did the right thing, and so did his classmates.

“Some of them said I saved their life,” David said in a phone interview.

David was among 27 students headed to a charter school on Monday when the driver stopped at a service station, pumped about $40 of fuel and went into the rest room while the bus engine idled. In his absence, the bus began rolling down a side street that swoops through an industrial area and was on a collision course with an oncoming tractor-trailer rig.

David said he looked up and saw the truck approaching.

“I hurried up and turned the wheel so I could get out of the truck’s way,” David said.

After dodging the truck he aimed the bus for the last pillar on a bridge to avoid going farther down the steep hill. “There was nothing good down there,” he said.

David said one of the reasons he jumped into the driver’s seat was because his 12-year-old brother Patrick was on board.

Patrick said he was about to jump off the bus but stayed because he saw his brother steering.

“Yeah, he’s a hero,” Patrick said.
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A Reading man whose minivan crashed after he climbed on its roof while driving about 55 miles per hour is in fair condition this weekend.

Police in West Reading say the 38-year-old man later stripped naked and led them on a chase along the highway.

Authorities are not identifying the man, who is not charged.

He remains in a Reading hospital recovering from what witnesses call a deep gash in his side.

Police say they used Taser jolts and pepper spray during the chase Friday but only subdued the man when they tackled him.