Hero NY Bus Driver Saves Woman From Jumping Off Bridge [Video]

A New York bus driver is being deemed a hero after preventing a woman from jumping off a bridge.

Darnell Barton, a bus driver in Buffalo, N.Y. picked up about 20 McKinley High School students on the afternoon of Oct. 18 when he saw a woman who had climbed over the guardrail on the Buffalo highway overpass, ABC News confirms. She was learning over, looking at the traffic zooming below on the Scajaquada Expressway.

At first, Barton wasn't sure if the woman was in distress. However, he stopped the bus, and opened the doors to ask if she needed help. Darnell knew that he was required to call his dispatcher, but as a former volunteer firefighter and member of the Buffalo Special Police, he knew that if he made contact, he shouldn't break it.

"It was an interesting situation, knowing what you know and knowing what you have to do," he said by phone Wednesday. "Dispatch picked up. I remember giving my location and saying, 'Send the authorities, this young lady needs help' and then dashing the phone down."

The bus video camera shows Barton, 37, leaving the bus and a 20-something woman looking at him. She then turns back to the traffic zipping by below.

"That's when I went and put my arms around her," said Barton. "I felt like if she looked down at that traffic one more time it might be it."

Once Barton took the woman in his arms and asked if she wanted to come back over the guardrail. She said yes. Barton then gently helped her climb back over the guardrail and sit down. The video then shows him sitting next to her on the concrete, while asking her name and other questions to distract her. He learned that she is a student.

"Then she said, 'You smell good,'" he said.

A corrections officer and a female driver who was behind the bus came over the help, speaking to the woman until police arrived. "While I was holding her, listening to their questions, I just prayed," the bus driver said. "Whatever was on her mind, it had her. It really, really had her."

Once the ambulance left, Barton, a father of two, got back on the bus, and received a standing ovation from the high school students and other onlookers. Once he finished his route, he wrote up a report and went home.

"Being the humble individual that Darnell is, he didn't write it in a way that was going to call attention to himself," said C. Douglas Hartmayer, spokesman for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. "It was: I did it, got back on my bus and continued. That speaks volumes about his demeanor and character."

Barton says he wishes he could speak with the woman again to make sure she's alright. "Things like this put what's important in perspective," Barton said. "You hug your kids a little tighter, kiss your wife a little bit longer. You're grateful."

"Things may not be perfect," he said, "but as we say, they're a little bit of all right."