5-year-old girl left on school bus alone for five hours in Dartmouth
DARTMOUTH - A family is demanding answers after a 5-year-old girl was left alone on a school bus for hours Thursday in Dartmouth.
"She was just screaming for the bus driver," said Christopher Matton about his daughter, Riley. "She was screaming for somebody, nobody was there."
Matton said Riley was supposed to be dropped off at Kiddie Kampus Childhood Development and Preschool Center, where she's been attending for the past few years. Instead, she fell asleep on the bus and police said she was left alone for about five hours unsupervised.
"She wakes up to being on an empty bus, a whole bunch of buses on the side of her, screaming for the bus driver by name," said Matton.
It's unclear if the bus driver checked all the seats. Riley was buckled into her seat and couldn't get out and spent hours screaming for help.
Matton said between 1:30 and 2 p.m., a supervisor found his daughter and put her on a warm bus to Kiddie Kampus. He said he spoke with the school and was told they marked her as present on the attendance sheet that morning. He said he's thankful Riley wasn't hurt but said she's very scared.
In a statement, Kiddie Kampus said, "We are thankful that the child is home safe with their family. We are grateful that there is a full investigation into this issue and will continue to to be helpful in any way that we can."
"I just want these kids to be able to know they can get on a school bus and go to school or day care and be safe and not have to worry about accidentally taking a nap on the bus on the way to school and waking up to nobody being there," said Matton.
WBZ TV reached out to the Tremblay Bus Company for comment but they did not respond. Police said they're interviewing the bus company, the bus driver and school officials but so far, no charges have been filed.