A Columbus City Schools bus driver in Ohio is being terminated after leaving a child with special needs unattended in one of the district’s bus compounds, reported Fox 28.
The incident reportedly occurred last Friday, when 7-year-old Zachary Elliott got on his morning school bus as usual. But instead of being in school several hours later in, his parents received a call from the Columbus police saying their son was found walking down the street alone.
According to the news report, officers said a motorist saw the boy and called the police .
Russell Elliott, Zachary’s father, told local news reporters that his son never got off the bus that morning. Instead, he returned to the Columbus City School’s bus compound, 15 miles away from his school and was left there. The boy then had to climb out of the window, jump to the ground, and begin walking down the street.
Elliott reportedly stated they never received a call from their son’s school, John Burroughs Elementary, to notify them that their son wasn’t in class that day. “It’s crazy to me that can actually happen. The bus driver knows he’s special needs, the school knows he’s special needs,” said Elliott.
It is unclear what the sequence of events were that led up to the driver leaving the child unattended.
Local news reporters reached out to the district and were told that the transportation department immediately removed the driver, whose identity was not disclosed in this writing, from duty and launched and thorough investigation.
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