BLAIRSTOWN TOWNSHIP, NJ (Warren County) – A Blairstown Township resident received the town’s first ever heroism award for rescuing children from a school bus crash on Interstate 80 in Mount Olive Township last month.
On Wednesday, during the Blairstown Township Committee Meeting, Walter Caraballo of Blairstown was presented with a Heroism Award by the Blairstown Twp Police Department, according to a post on the Blairstown Township Police Department’s Facebook page.
Caraballo was traveling on Interstate 80 in Mount Olive Township on May 17 when he observed a motor vehicle crash involving a dump truck and a school bus.
Caraballo pulled his vehicle over to the side of the road and ran over to the school bus. He could hear the kids yelling and crying. He opened the hatch to the bus, climbed into the bus and began handing the injured children out of the bus to other people that stopped to help.
Once all the occupants were removed from the bus Caraballo climbed back out of the bus and began to comfort and help as many children as he could.
One of the children, Sophia, was able to give Caraballo her parent’s phone number. HE hugged and comforted her while he called her parents and alerted them to the incident.
Caraballo promised he would stay with her. Walter followed the ambulance that Sophia was in to the ambulance and remained with Sophia until her parents arrived.
Sophia was also in attendance of the meeting and presented Walter with a homemade plaque with pictures of the two of them together.
Sophia and Walter have remained friends and talk often ever since the accident.
“Walter acted to help others without regards to his own safety. Walter is the true definition of a hero and made Blairstown proud,” police said.
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By: Jay Edwards Follow on Twitter | Like on Facebook
