Ryan Ciampoli was traveling behind the bus down Highway 65 in Harrison on Wednesday when his dash-mounted camera, running the entire time, caught a scene he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around.
“I saw it happening, and it blew my mind,” he said. “It was like I wasn’t even seeing what I was seeing.”
The video shows the back door of the bus fly open, with a 4-year-old girl hanging on. She falls to the ground and lies motionless, as the bus continues to drive away and Ciampoli’s vehicle rolls up to her and stops.The volunteer firefighter went into action.
"Obviously, you (normally) want to leave her there if she's not in danger," Ciampoli said in a CNN interview, "but we're in the middle of a state highway, so I couldn't leave her just lying there."
The video shows him very gently rolling her over and keeping her body stable as he moves her out of the way.
“Then the shock kicked in her little body and she started kicking and screaming and ‘where’s my mommy?’,” Ciampoli said. “Stuff like that is really heartbreaking.”
The girl's mother told CNN she had a broken jaw and would require surgery but is expected to make a full recovery. The girl's father said he expects the 4-year-old to be released from the hospital on Monday.
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