3-Year-Old Missing For Hours After Bus Driver Forgets Stop
BOWIE, Md. (WJZ) -- Some scary moments for the family of a three-year-old in Bowie.
Mike Schuh reports she got on the school bus at school, but didn't get off at her stop.
Maybe three-year-old Symphani Bracey should have done the driving. What could have been a routine bus ride turned into an after-school ordeal.
Symphani, who has special needs, goes to an early childhood center in Bowie. A bus was supposed to drop her at a sitter's house after school on Thursday.
After she didn't show up, her mother worried and frantically began calling and looking for her.
"She called the bus depot to find out where she was. They didn't know. They said she didn't get on the bus. She called the school. They said they put her on the bus," said Mary Bracey, Symphani's grandmother.
It turns out, Symphani was on her bus. Prince George's County schools say the driver got lost and couldn't find Symphani's drop off--the same spot where she was picked up that morning.
"He didn't call back and say, 'Hey look, I'm lost,' or something like that. 'Where do I need to go?'" said Symphani's grandfather, Earl Bracey.
The Braceys say the driver took all the other students on board home before dropping Symphani at the bus lot.
School protocols say he should have called in as soon as he had issues.
"I was thinking something had happened to her, there had been an accident," her grandmother said.
In Symphani's case, after two tense hours, another driver who was familiar with her neighborhood got her home.
"I'm not happy with the way it went down. I'm happy that she's here," her grandfather said.
The school system has asked its principals to review drop off procedures with their drivers.