9-year-old is honored as a hero
Published: November 30, 2006
s his mother drove along U.S. 67 toward Cleburne this month, Jimmy Stevens, 9, noticed that she was swerving.
Moments later, Latisha Stevens was unconscious.
Jimmy knew what to do. But he had to act quickly. [Smart Parenting: How To Raise Happy, Can-Do Kids]
He jumped from the front passenger seat of his family’s Kia onto his mother’s lap and pulled the car to the side of the road and put it in park. Then, he dialed 911, just like he had been taught in class.
For the next 11 minutes, Jimmy spoke calmly to dispatchers and directed paramedics to the car while his younger siblings sobbed in the back seat.
On Wednesday, the second-grader was the one holding back tears while recounting his heroic act.
“I think it’s starting to hit me,” Jimmy said. “I feel like crying now.”
Jimmy’s quick thinking didn’t go without notice. On Wednesday, the Cleburne Police Department gave him with a hero’s certificate for his bravery and a bronze medallion with a small police badge attached.
Officials pinned the medal on Jimmy at Keene Elementary School to applause from his classmates.
“Jimmy is just a wonderful kid,” said his teacher, Cheryl Webber. “We are very proud of him.”
On the night of Nov. 8, Latisha Stevens, 28, who says she has panic attacks, said she felt dizzy and light-headed. She decided to drive to Walls Regional Hospital in Cleburne. She took her children with her because her husband wasn’t home.
On the way, Stevens passed out on the U.S. 67 bridge near an Albertsons grocery store.
“She started swerving,” Jimmy said. “She almost wrecked.”
Jimmy said his sister, Amberly, 5, and brother, Mitchell, 7, were crying.
In the 911 recording, provided by Cleburne police, Jimmy tells dispatchers about his mother: “She can’t breathe, and I can’t talk to her.”
“James, tell your mother that paramedics are on the way. Help is on the way,” the dispatcher says, as crying children can be heard in the background.
The dispatcher asked Jimmy whether he saw the lights from the fire trucks. Jimmy gave specific instructions and paramedics found the car.
Stevens said she regained consciousness at the hospital and was released later that night.
Jimmy knows how to call 911 because he participated in a program in the first grade that taught him how to use the number in emergencies.
James Stevens, 35, Jimmy’s father, said he is proud of his son’s bravery and quick thinking.
“I am ecstatic,” he said. “He’s always been an intelligent child. He has a cool head.”
Jimmy said that after his experience he wants to be a police officer and help people.
“I am excited about myself because of what I did for my mommy, daddy and my sister and brother,” Jimmy said.
The honors didn’t stop at the school. A Red Lobster restaurant in Burleson planned a celebration dinner Wednesday night.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: