Bus aide honored for saving child's life

A 20-year-old pregnant bus attendant who risked her own life to save a 4-year-old boy from the path of a truck was recognized Friday.

Krystle Cushing, 20, of Des Plaines was working on an after-school bus April 18, when her driver noticed a 4-year-old riding a Big Wheel.

The bus driver, who was dropping kids off in a mobile home park in Elk Grove Township, slowed down to follow the boy. The child pedaled out of the mobile home park and onto six-lane Touhy Avenue.

Cushing, six months pregnant and already the mother of a 2-year-old, rushed off the bus. The boy crossed two lanes of traffic and a semitrailer truck was bearing down. Cushing grabbed him just as the truck driver slammed on his brakes -- and missed hitting them by a foot.

Cushing won recognition Friday from her employer, RichLee Vans Inc. Bus Co. of Arlington Heights.

"She is our local hero," said John Knoelke, vice president of Cook-Illinois Corp., which owns RichLee. "We're proud to say she's part of our organization."

Cushing, who was hospitalized for premature labor pains the night of the near-tragedy, said she reacted on instinct.

"I wasn't thinking about it; I just ran," Cushing said at an award's ceremony Friday.

She said the incident left her with a bruised pelvis and a torn muscle, which she hopes to recover from before her delivery.

Cushing said the boy's family members told her the child wandered away from his home, and a large group was out looking for him when she rescued him.

"If no one else had been up there, we would have heard about it on the news," Cushing said.