Cambridge Mom Outraged Son Was Left Alone On Cold Bus
CAMBRIDGE (CBS) - Tara Dendy's top priority is protecting her five-year-old son Reign. She's both outraged and heartbroken, thinking about what happened to him when he fell asleep on the bus.
Dendy says, "My child should never fear anything, at five years old, and wake up and feel like he's been abandoned."
Reign got on the school bus in Cambridge on Thursday afternoon at 3pm to go to his after school program at the Martha Fuller House. But Reign fell asleep and he never got off.
No one realized he was gone, until his mother came to pick him up at six o'clock.
Dendy says, "When I arrived they informed me he wasn't there. And my heart dropped."
She called police and the bus company found him, waiting on the school bus at the bus lot in Somerville, shivering, scared and alone.
According to Dendy, "It was cold, it was dark and he tried to get out. He kept saying 'I tried to get out and I couldn't get out.'"
Eastern Bus Company suspended the driver, and says the driver will be fired if they find she didn't complete the mandatory inspection required by law after completing a route.
Dendy says more must be done so no child is ever left alone on a bus.
The Martha Fuller House had no comment when WBZ called to ask why they didn't notify Reign's mother when he wasn't dropped off at school.
Eastern Bus Company says there was a bus monitor on the bus as well, but the monitor got off before the final stop. Eastern says the bus monitor will also be disciplined if they find the monitor did anything wrong.
Cambridge School officials say they are extremely upset by what happened, and say this is inexcusable on the part of the bus company.
They say Cambridge children will never be allowed in this driver's care again.
