‘Always in the Middle of the Action’

When Ramya De Silva called his daughter to tell her he had just helped steer a bus to safety, she had one immediate thought: “Here he goes again.” It’s almost as though De Silva has a penchant for finding trouble--and fixing it.

“He’s always in the middle of the action,” said Imithri De Silva, 18.

What started out as a routine bus ride home from his job Wednesday afternoon turned into a real-life version of the movie “Speed.” The driver slumped to the side after suffering a heart attack, leaving the bus careening out of control down busy Culver Drive in Irvine. De Silva leaped into action, grabbing the steering wheel and bringing the 40-foot commuter bus to a stop. There were about 10 passengers on board; three were infants.

The waiter, 51, became an instant hero, with the Irvine Police Department, Orange County Fire Authority and Orange County Transportation Authority all making plans to honor him. Television crews camped outside the Olive Garden restaurant in Irvine on Thursday while he worked inside. Between serving pasta to diners, he occasionally found time to stroll outside to grant interviews, his manager said.

According to family, however, this is not the Irvine resident’s first brush with heroism. A few months ago, he pursued a bank robber, jotting down the license plate number. Police later made an arrest.

Years ago, in his native country of Sri Lanka, he drove a delivery truck slowly through a rioting mob to rescue a friend who had become trapped in a home surrounded by the crowd and burning buildings. And every day, he is a hero in much quieter ways: He helps an elderly neighbor by taking out the trash, picking up the mail and carrying groceries.

One day after his heroic act, the reality was starting to set in. Yes, he saved bus passengers. Yes, he may have saved other people on the road. If only, he says, he could have saved the bus driver, Hilario Cardenas, 37.

De Silva said Cardenas died so quickly of his heart attack that he realized it would be impossible to save him, but the bus was drifting perilously close to oncoming traffic. De Silva, who stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds, lifted the driver back into the seat, kept him propped there with one hand, took hold of the steering wheel with the other and tried to brake--all while standing up.

A dozen thoughts raced through his mind: He didn’t want to brake too suddenly. He didn’t want to stop in the middle of the road. He wanted to find the signal so people would know he was pulling over. And, foremost on his mind, was liability.

“I was thinking all these things,” De Silva said. “I knew, ‘I am innocent. I am doing my best. I’m not robbing a man. I’m not killing a man. I’m doing a very civic-minded thing.’ ”

He still wants to call Cardenas’ family, even attend the funeral. After all, De Silva says, “He died in my arms. I think he died honorably.” Cardenas, an Anaheim resident, was the father of five children.

Rachael Roberts, 21, of Irvine was driving in the opposite direction on Culver when she noticed the erratic bus and saw through the windows that De Silva was trying to get it under control. She called 911 on her cell phone. After police arrived and events calmed down, she remembers De Silva telling her, “I was looking in the mirrors. I just didn’t want to hit a car because it would be my fault.”

She chuckles when she recalls their conversation. She tried to reassure him. “I said, ‘You really did a good job.’ It’s almost like he knew exactly what to do.”

De Silva, who immigrated to the United States two years ago to escape ethnic violence in Sri Lanka and so his daughter could attend college, said it all just came to him.

“You get some energy and you really go for it,” he said.

His wife, Amitha, a teacher, said she is proud of her husband’s good deed.

“He can handle any situation,” she said. His neighbor, Hazel Colucy, 85, called him a “lovely guy.” His Olive Garden manager, Clifford Smith, agreed, “Every time I turn around, he’s helping out with this or that.”

De Silva said it’s in his genes, passed down from his father and grandfather and, he hopes, on to his son. Maybe it’s destiny, he said, that he got on the Route 79 bus that day--that he missed an earlier bus--and decided to sit so close to the front.

“It’s very strange,” he said.