Montefiore Medical Center employee James Adeola’s vacation got off to a dramatic start when he saw a young boy walk straight into the side of a commuter bus the morning of June 14.

Adeola was in his car when he saw 10-year-old Eliseo Oller collide with the bus and get thrown back, hitting his head on the pavement. He got out of his car and ran to help the boy, taking the shirt off his back to wrap Eliseo in and stop the bleeding.

"It was something I’d do any time," said Adeola, who works in Montefiore’s Nutrition Department. "Nobody was there, so in a split second he could have been dead." A father of two girls, ages 6 and 1, Adeola said he couldn’t just pass by the scene without doing anything. It was the first week of his four-week vacation, so he was able to accompany the boy to the hospital and help the family get his photo out to the news media.

Eliseo suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs and a broken shoulder. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital and later moved to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, where hospital officials say he was released from the intensive care unit last week.  

Eliseo’s parents told reporters he was forced to take two city buses to get to PS/MS 95, where he attends fourth grade. He took the school bus previously but was told he was not eligible this year. The Department of Education has said Eliseo was never eligible for the school bus, but his family disputes that claim.