Tearful salute to a hero: Riverhead school district thanks cop who rescued driver and monitor from fiery crash

Tears flowed freely in the Riverhead High School auditorium tonight, where Riverhead fêted a hero: NYPD transit cop Christopher Canale, who rescued a Riverhead Central School District bus driver and monitor from a burning mini-bus last week, accepted thanks and accolades from district officials, employees and the community.

Canale, who lives in Farmingville, was returning home from a shopping excursion with his family on Thursday when he came across the burning school bus in the westbound lanes of the L.I. Expressway near exit 70. The off-duty cop rushed into the bus, which was already engulfed in flames, and pulled the monitor and driver — who was pinned by the steering wheel — to safety.

“I did nothing more than anybody else would do in this situation,” Canale, 33, said during a televised press conference Friday.

Fortunately, there were no children on the bus, which was en route to pick up students at a BOCES center when it was involved in an accident and burst into flames.

School bus monitor Grace Robertson of Flanders attended the school board meeting tonight to meet the man who saved her life and personally thank him for his heroic action.

Robertson was overcome with emotion as she tried to speak.

“Thank you, thank you,” she sobbed, as she embraced the officer.

Both were surrounded by extended family for tonight’s tearful reunion.

Canale’s wife Jessica and two young sons, Christian, 5 and Jake, 2, as well as his parents and brothers — who are both NYPD officers also — were there to bear witness to the outpouring of gratitude that included a standing ovation by the audience. School district transportation department staff, clad in their blue uniform shirts, filled several rows of the auditorium.

Robertson’s children, Jackie Powell and Glen Robertson, brought their 70-year-old mother to the high school in a wheel chair to meet Canale.

“She really wanted to thank him personally,” Powell said.

A humble Canale accepted the board’s thanks. Board president Susan Koukonas read aloud a resolution thanking the officer, who then greeted each board member individually. Many were crying.

Holding a plaque and a copy of the resolution against his chest, Canale smiled and shyly waved at the crowd, still on its feet applauding, as he returned to his seat.

Both families filed out before the board took up the rest of its agenda. The transportation department employees surrounded Canale and his family in the lobby outside the auditorium, where he again said he didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done in the same situation.

The bus driver — who is not being identified by the district out of respect for his desire for privacy — is home from the hospital and doing all right, said assistant superintendent Sam Schneider.

“He’s pretty sore, but he’s OK,” Schneider said.