MIAMI (WSVN) - A Miami-Dade Transit bus driver is being hailed a hero after she came to the rescue of an unresponsive passenger, and officials said this is not the first time she has rendered aid while on the job.
Laronda Marshall is required to stay alert as she drives down her route, but on Sept. 19, it was something in the back of her bus that made her hit the brakes
Speaking with 7News on Friday, Marshall said it was a tense situation.
“Anything could have happened,” she said.
Marshall was making her way on Route 77, near Northwest Seventh Avenue and 103rd Street, in Northwest Miami-Dade, when a passenger told her there was a man slumped over unresponsive in the back.
Marshall said she secured the bus, called for backup and sprang into action.
“I checked his pulse,” she said.
Marshall showed a 7News crew where the passenger was sitting and described how she administered CPR inside the bus.
First responders said the driver saved the passenger’s life.
Fortunately for him, Marshall is a trained nurse.
“My instinct, it just kicked in,” she said.
This is not the first time Marshall’s instincts have saved the day. She has saved three lives since she started driving in 2011.
Back in 2017, Marshall used her bus to block traffic, after a man had been hit by a car and left lying in the pavement.
“I just went over there and rendered aid to him, because nobody came around,,” she said. “It’s just, you know, my heart.”
About a month after that crash, officials said, Marshall jumped into action in the area of Northwest 183rd Street and 12th Avenue when she saw a girl with disabilities wondering in the middle of the road.
This just exemplifies what we hope we have in every employee, someone who just cares about what they’re doing and cares about the people they’re serving,” said Alice Bravo, director of the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works.
“We wear many hats. We’re counselors, we’re doctors, we’re teachers,” said Marshall.
Now she can add the title of repeat hero to her résumé.
Marshall said she did not learn the name of the man she treated, but she hopes their paths will cross again, maybe while she’s behind the wheel.
“You know, I would like to see the guy again, and I just thank God that he’s living and he has another chance at life,” she said.
Marshall said she hopes her story can inspire others to learn CPR.
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