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<p>WYOMING &#8212; Carson Crossley was tired.</p><p>The partially blind boy had spent the afternoon of the Fourth of July with his best friend, Joey Kolesar; Joey&#8217;s father, Joseph, and two other children at Ricketts Glen State Park.</p><p>As Joseph drove the group to Carson&#8217;s Wyoming home for a holiday barbecue, the 11-year-old began to doze off. Around 5:30 p.m., something startled Carson awake.</p><p>&#8220;I was actually very tired that day, so I had my eyes closed. Then, all of a sudden, I felt the car and I saw the cop,&#8221; Carson said about a Wyoming Borough police officer who witnessed Kolesar&#8217;s car spin out of control. &#8220;I thought he was pulling over for the cop, but then we started going up on the sidewalk.&#8221;</p><p>Carson &#8212; who is legally blind in his left eye and suffers from bad vision in both eyes, plus hearing loss &#8212; was sitting in the front seat of Joseph&#8217;s vehicle as he was the driest of the four children, a recent ear surgery keeping him out of the water at Ricketts Glen. After Joseph&#8217;s car drove onto the sidewalk, sheared a pole at the corner of Ninth Street and Wyoming Avenue and continued to accelerate, Carson used his positioning to take control of the situation.</p><p>The initial collision caused the front-passenger airbag to deploy, so Carson shielded himself from the airbag with his right hand and steered the vehicle with his left. In an effort to avoid oncoming traffic on a busy four-lane road, Carson guided the vehicle into a residence at 394 Wyoming Ave. &#8212; approximately two blocks from his home.</p><p>Carson, Joey and two friends escaped the crash with minor injuries (Carson had a bloody nose and will undergo therapy for minor muscular injuries), but driver Joseph was taken away by ambulance. Carson said Joseph had complained of heartburn at Ricketts Glen and began to feel worse as the day went on. Carson later learned Joseph had suffered a heart attack and died.</p><p>&#8220;At first, all I was worried about was getting out of there and being safe, but then I realized he had a heart attack and passed out,&#8221; Carson said. &#8220;I was very scared. His son and I, when we got the news, it was very sad.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8216;Like a second dad&#8217;</strong></p><p>Carson&#8217;s mother, Debbie Burchell Crossley, said Joseph embraced his son&#8217;s best friend since the two boys met in first grade.</p><p>&#8220;Joe was like a second dad to him,&#8221; Debbie said. &#8220;They did everything together.&#8221;</p><p>Carson said he spent a lot of time at Joseph&#8217;s Luzerne restaurant, Salerno&#8217;s.</p><p>&#8220;We always used to go to the movies together after the restaurant closed,&#8221; Carson said. &#8220;He taught me how to cook and about cars, because he has a rare Super Bee and an old GTO, an old Mustang, all that stuff.&#8221;</p><p>Carson used the skills he learned at Salerno&#8217;s to make cookies for the residents at 394 Wyoming Ave., Dave and Nancy Shemo, because he felt bad for crashing into their home.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know where they came from because there was no note,&#8221; Dave said. &#8220;We thought maybe someone left them here by accident, one of our guests or something.&#8221;</p><p>Dave and Nancy were hosting guests in their backyard July 4. Dave didn&#8217;t know a vehicle struck the front of his home until a neighbor alerted him. He isn&#8217;t sure how much repairs will cost &#8212; structural engineers and contractors are still assessing the damage. But the couple stressed their home is repairable and Carson&#8217;s actions averted a possible disaster at the busy nearby intersection of Eighth Street and Wyoming Avenue.</p><p>&#8220;While we were standing here, he kept apologizing again and again to my sister for hitting the house,&#8221; Nancy recalled. &#8220;With all of this going on, we said, &#8216;That&#8217;s so secondary. What you did, you saved everyone.&#8217; It shows what kind of kid he is.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Called a hero</strong></p><p>Debbie wasn&#8217;t surprised to learn her son guided Joseph&#8217;s vehicle to safety.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s very calm,&#8221; Debbie said. &#8220;If somebody gets injured or cut, he&#8217;s a very calm presence.&#8221;</p><p>Carson&#8217;s coolness allowed him to recall what it was like driving the dune buggy he received last Christmas. It has a steering wheel similar to the ones found on automobiles, so Carson drew on that experience while taking control of Joseph&#8217;s vehicle.</p><p>After the crash, Carson&#8217;s primary concern was the safety of the occupants.</p><p>Carson&#8217;s brother Bret Davis, 25, said his little brother has always had the same &#8220;wherewithal and state of mind.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He told me that, even though he was scared, after the car actually crashed and came to a stop, there was dust from the airbags and his first immediate thought was, &#8216;Everybody needs to get out because the car&#8217;s on fire,&#8217;&#8221; Bret said.</p><p>Bret, who is training to be a police officer, gave his brother high marks.</p><p>&#8220;Second to none, 20-out-of-10, that&#8217;s unbelievable to do,&#8221; Bret said. &#8220;I was terrified because of what happened, but at the same time, when I found out what happened, if anybody&#8217;s going to do that, it&#8217;s Carson.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Carson Crossley, 11, sits on the couch in his Wyoming home as he recalls the events of July 4, when he took control of a car after the driver suffered a fatal heart attack. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_SRM_2827-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Carson Crossley, 11, sits on the couch in his Wyoming home as he recalls the events of July 4, when he took control of a car after the driver suffered a fatal heart attack. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Gene Axton</p><p>gaxton@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6406 or on Twitter @GeneAxtonTL</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> _RHricjo1GA</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Carson Crossley and his family talk about the accident.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Sean McKeag</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Wyoming boy, 11, who saved carload of kids is partially blind