Photo: ABCNews.com
A bus driver and a teacher from the Chambliss Center for Children in Chattanooga, Tennessee, failed to perform the mandatory checks upon arrival at their destination and it resulted in 13 minutes of desperation for a 5-year-old boy.
Surveillance video of the incident that occurred at the end of last week has emerged online, and as the director of the Center says, it’s heartbreaking to watch. The child is sleeping only 2 rows behind the driver but she fails to notice him. The same goes for the teacher accompanying the children.
Both women should have performed checks before leaving the bus, which would have ensured that every child was accounted for. The bus driver, in particular, should have walked to the back of the bus checking every seat before she left, but it seems she was in too much of a hurry because her shift had ended.
So, after she dropped the children to the Center, she drove the bus to the Special Transit Services parking lot, got out and left. The boy woke up moments later and, not knowing where he was or why he was alone, he started crying hysterically.
After about 13 minutes on the cold, empty bus, he figured out how to open the door on his own, ABC News notes. He then wandered off in the parking lot, until another bus drive saw him and came to his help.
The boy’s mother, Uneisha Bradford, is saying her child won’t travel by bus again. The fact that the driver has been fired comes as little consolation, especially after seeing the footage of her boy in distress.
The Center, for one, is owning up to their share of responsibility.
“The STS driver is supposed to walk through, which she did not do,” Phil Acord, the director of the Center says. “Our teacher is supposed to walk through… She looked under the seats. She looked for legs and book bags and didn’t see anything, and then when the driver gets back to the STS and parks her bus, she’s supposed to go back again.”
“If everyone had done their jobs like they were supposed to, the boy would’ve been located and gotten off,” Acord adds.
Both women should have performed checks before leaving the bus, which would have ensured that every child was accounted for. The bus driver, in particular, should have walked to the back of the bus checking every seat before she left, but it seems she was in too much of a hurry because her shift had ended.
So, after she dropped the children to the Center, she drove the bus to the Special Transit Services parking lot, got out and left. The boy woke up moments later and, not knowing where he was or why he was alone, he started crying hysterically.
After about 13 minutes on the cold, empty bus, he figured out how to open the door on his own, ABC News notes. He then wandered off in the parking lot, until another bus drive saw him and came to his help.
The boy’s mother, Uneisha Bradford, is saying her child won’t travel by bus again. The fact that the driver has been fired comes as little consolation, especially after seeing the footage of her boy in distress.
The Center, for one, is owning up to their share of responsibility.
“The STS driver is supposed to walk through, which she did not do,” Phil Acord, the director of the Center says. “Our teacher is supposed to walk through… She looked under the seats. She looked for legs and book bags and didn’t see anything, and then when the driver gets back to the STS and parks her bus, she’s supposed to go back again.”
“If everyone had done their jobs like they were supposed to, the boy would’ve been located and gotten off,” Acord adds.
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