A hero passenger commandeered an MTA bus after the driver passed out behind the wheel on the Upper East Side tonight.
The bus driver lost consciousness while going north on Madison Avenue near 81st around 7:05 p.m.
The Bronx-bound BXM 18 bus then careened about a block out of control. It hit several cars, a light post, a Muni-Meter and fence at the PS 6 school, before the brave commuter managed to grab the wheel and guide the massive vehicle back onto the road.
“We started hitting cars, people started screaming,” said Guy Praisler, 45, of Riverdale. “I figured something happened to the driver and I just jumped up and held the wheel.”
The bus was going 25 to 30 miles per hour when Praisler took the wheel and got it under contorl. But he then needed to ease the unconscious driver’s foot off the gas pedal so it could come to a stop.
“I wasn’t trying to be hero,” Praisler said. “I just wanted to stop the bus.”
The driver, Kevin Prendergast, passed out at around 81th street when the bus started to veer to the right. The bus crashed into a wrought iron fence of P.S. 6 on 82nd street before Praisler redirected it. The whole melee ended around 85th street.
Praisler, who runs a tech company, was on his way home from work, when the bus driver keeled over. He said the driver came back to reality when the incident was finally over.
“After we stopped he regained his conscious and started asking what happened,” Praisler said. “I just feel bad for the driver. He’s a really nice guy.”
Six people were injured including the driver, three bus passengers, and two drivers in a black SUV and a cab passenger that the bus struck on its way up Madison.
Four were taken to Lenox Hill Hospital for minor injuries. Three were released last night. The driver was taken to Columbia Presbyterian. An MTA source said Prendergast, a 30-year veteran, got dizzy and he blacked out. “Passengers said it was like he was in a trance,” the source said.